Ontario Roads - Highway 2/CR-RR 2

and County/Regional Road 2


All of my photos are eastbound, but not all submitted photos (such as the above, courtesy Doug Kerr). The reason so much of Highway 2 has become a County or Regional Road is because Highway 401 has taken all of the through traffic off of the road, and so it serves little purpose to the province. The great downloading of many provincial highways to the counties and regions occurred in the 1990's, completed by 1998.


Green shields are used as trailblazers. The top photo is/was westbound in Kingston, and this one I'm sure is nearby, also courtesy Doug Kerr.


Into Thamesford, where the CR 119 shield likely dates to the downloading of this part of Highway 19 in 1998.


CR 2 EB/CR 119 SB share a brief concurrency over the Thames River and the ramp speed sign dates to the provincial highway days.


CR 119 SB and NB at each end of the duplex.


Who puts a period after ordinal numbers?


Normally you have crossbucks with flashing lights when a train crosses... but in this case, the tracks are in a depression that can't be seen from a distance.


Across the Thames River once more and into Woodstock. The second photo is at Oxford St., CR 12.


EB and WB on CR 2 (still signed as Highway 2, but I'm sure the shields have now been replaced) at former Highway (yup, now CR) 32, courtesy Doug Kerr. 32 will take you to Highway 401's Exit 645. Note the age and font of the 32 shields. Square shields are used primarily at junctions, cutouts otherwise, according to Chris Bessert, though there is plenty of variation on that.


Well, maybe not all the shields have been replaced in Gananoque. As of 2012, courtesy Carl Tessier, you have this one EB, and the lower half of the one WB assembly is still hanging on.


As I said, shield confusion, CR 2 EB at Augusta Road, still in Brockville.


From the age of this sign, it's clear this was never Highway 31. The Myers Point sign is for a dead-end with about 10 houses on it, and refers to the street name itself (no "Road" afterward). Both are at the same intersection.

CR 18, Edward St., Prescott. Note the notched 4, indicative of a much older font.


At the Prescott-Ogdensburg International Bridge, located east of both towns, linking New York to Ontario from NY 812 to Highway 16. NY 812 connects to NY 37, which has absolutely nothing to do with US 37. The last sign gets it right, but with the NJ-style black background (I'm sure they just borrowed a shield from NYSDOT and stuck it on). Unlike some other old signs on former Highway 2, Highway 16 is still a provincial highway, but now only exists to get traffic to the Highway 416 freeway - after that, it's just CR 44.


I don't recall seeing any other Heritage Parkway signs on CR 2, but EDR signs are everywhere. Since Highway 401 is the freeway bypass for the original Toronto-Montréal road, which is now Highway/CR/RR 2, it makes sense that in the case of Emergency, 2 would be the Detour Route. Even on these strange signs, the 401 is white on green because it's a guide sign to the highway itself.


Older guide cutouts at CR 14 in Ingleside (first photo) and CR 35 in Long Sault (second and third photos), both part of the township of South Stormont in the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry (hereafter referred to as S D G, as you'll see soon). Sault means "rapids," from the French for "jump." The fourth photo's bilingual sign is at CR 33, Power Dam Drive west of Cornwall.


A very literal interpretation of the county trapezoid, as CR 2 leaves Old Montréal Road (it has been given back to the riverside forest) and heads up to be the north frontage road of Highway 401. CR 32 has always begun in South Lancaster, and has not been truncated just because 2 has been realigned.


The oldest guide sign of all, where the green background has almost completely disappeared and the white numerals and arrow have scraped away to the green underneath, at CR 23 just west of the Québec border. There is clearly more room on this assembly, and I assume it had a Highway 2 shield on the right. Note the cut-corner 4, an older font that's very difficult to find anymore.

Former Highway 59 and CR 2/59
Former Highway 138 and 2/138

E.C. Row Expressway, former ON 2 in Windsor
Gardiner Expressway, former ON 2 in Toronto

Into Québec on QC 338
Onto the parallel Highway 401
Onto Highway 16
To Highway 416
Onto the Prescott-Ogdensburg International Bridge (NY 812)
To NY 37
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