page_title: Ontario Highway 4
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ontario Highway 4 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Highway 4 in Saint Thomas
context_page_description: King's Highway 4, also known as Highway 4, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Originally much longer than its present 100.8 km length, more than half of Highway 4 was transferred to the responsibility of local governments in 1998. In 2018, Highway 4 was re-signed and re-routed through London. In its present form, it travels between Highway 3 in Talbotville Royal, north-west of St. Thomas, and Highway 8 in Clinton.
  Highway 4 was first designated in 1920, when a 27 km route between Talbotville Royal and Elginfield was assumed by the Department of Highways. Over the next half century it was extended north and east to Highway 24 near Singhampton, and south to Port Stanley.
context_section_description: The King's Highway 4 was originally designated in 1920 when the provincial government assumed the road running from Talbotville Royal to Elginfield through London. In 1927, the highway was further extended with the assumption of the road from Elginfield to Clinton. In the 1930s, the highway was again extended as far north as the intersection of Highway 10 in Flesherton, and south to Edith Cavell Boulevard in Port Stanley. In the 1970s, Highway 4 reached its maximum length when it was extended from Flesherton to Singhampton. However, in 1998, the Mike Harris government, seeking to balance the provincial budget, off-loaded responsibility for the Clinton–Singhampton and Talbotville-Port Stanley sections of Highway 4—almost 65% of its total length—back onto municipal governments.
  In 2017, the City of London announced that Highway 4 through London would be re-signed and re-routed via Richmond Street, Sunningdale Road, and Wonderland Road, resulting in a short concurrency with Highway 401 between the Colonel Talbot Road and Wonderland Road interchanges.
caption: The Highway 4 / Talbot Street junction in St. Thomas.
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