All photos are WB. The QEW originally followed all of the 420 and ended in downtown Niagara Falls until it was extended to the Peace Bridge and Buffalo. The remnant known as Highway 420 is now the shortest King's Highway (under 4 km), made even shorter by losing the eastern, signalized portion to Regional Road status in 2000.


One of the first signs entering Canada, even before RR 420 begins, courtesy Doug Kerr.


Both courtesy Doug Kerr, both near downtown Niagara Falls but I don't know where. I'm pretty certain that the second photo is on RR 420 - nowhere else would the QEW be straight, downtown to the right, and the Falls to the left. How old is a Big Blue Sign? Could it date back to when the QEW was last on this road? Is it as old as the QEW itself? As old as Queen Elizabeth II? As old as the dear departed Queen Mum, the road's namesake? Elizabeth I??


A lone Regional Road marker tries to poke out of the trees as I climb Newman Hill and pass under Victoria Ave. The light pole in the second photo is more than fancy, it spells "ER" for Elizabeth Regna. That's Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI and mother of Queen Elizabeth II, and this design is only used on the highway named after her. Therefore, this light pole dates to the original construction in the 1930s.


Highway 420 now officially begins at Stanley Ave., Niagara RR 102, which is in the second photo. By that time, the original light poles (painted green) have petered out, and there are a few replicas painted silver to continue them a bit farther for nostalgia's sake. You get both of Ontario's shield styles less than a minute apart, allowing you to puzzle as to why the province would do such a thing.


The end of the road, courtesy Doug Kerr. The main movement on Highway 420 WB is to the QEW NB, both for historical purposes and because few tourists would head west out of Niagara Falls just to head south to Fort Erie and the Peace Bridge. (Even fewer tourists, but probably a good number of locals, would use Niagara River Parkway to link the two.)

Onto modern Queen Elizabeth Way

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