  the queen elizabeth way (qew), is a 400-series highway in the canadian province of ontario linking toronto with the niagara peninsula and buffalo, new york. the freeway begins at the peace bridge in fort erie and travels  around the western shore of lake ontario, ending at highway&nbsp;427. the physical highway, however, continues as the gardiner expressway into downtown toronto. the qew is one of ontario's busiest highways, with an average of close to 200,000 vehicles per day on some sections. major highway junctions are located at highway&nbsp;420 in niagara falls, highway&nbsp;405 and highway&nbsp;406 in st. catharines, the red hill valley parkway in hamilton, highway&nbsp;403 and highway&nbsp;407 in burlington, highway&nbsp;403 at the oakvilleâmississauga boundary and highway&nbsp;427 in etobicoke. within the regional municipality of halton, the qew is signed concurrently with highway&nbsp;403. the history of the qew dates back to 1931, when work began to widen the middle road in a similar fashion to the nearby dundas highway and lakeshore road as a relief project during the great depression. following the 1934 provincial election, ontario minister of highways thomas mcquesten and his deputy minister robert melville smith changed the design to be similar to the autobahns of germany, dividing the opposite directions of travel and using grade-separated interchanges at major crossroads. when it was initially opened to traffic in 1937, it was the first intercity divided highway in north america and featured the longest stretch of consistent illuminat
400-series_highways Grimsby,_Ontario Niagara-on-the-Lake Roads_in_Hamilton,_Ontario Roads_in_Mississauga Roads_in_Niagara_Falls,_Ontario Roads_in_Toronto Transport_in_Burlington,_Ontario Transport_in_Fort_Erie,_Ontario Transport_in_Oakville,_Ontario Transport_in_St._Catharines