page_title: Ontario Highway 7
section_title: Eastern segment
hierarchical_section_title: Ontario Highway 7 / Route description / Eastern segment
caption_attribution_description: English: Highway 7 through Omemee (City of Kawartha Lakes), Ontario, Canada
context_page_description: King's Highway 7, commonly referred to as Highway 7 and historically as the Northern Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. At its peak, Highway 7 measured 716 km in length, stretching from Highway 40 east of Sarnia in Southwestern Ontario to Highway 17 west of Ottawa in Eastern Ontario. However, due in part to the construction of Highways 402 and 407, the province transferred the sections of Highway 7 west of London and through the Greater Toronto Area to county and regional jurisdiction. The highway is now 535.7 km long; the western segment begins at Highway 4 north of London and extends 154.1 km to Georgetown, while the eastern segment begins at Donald Cousens Parkway in Markham and extends 381.6 km to Highway 417 in Ottawa.
  Highway 7 was first designated in 1920 between Sarnia and Guelph and extended to Brampton the following year. Between 1927 and 1932, the highway was more than doubled in length as it was gradually extended eastward to Perth, where Highway 15 continued to Ottawa. In the early 1960s, that section of Highway 15 was renumbered as Highway 7.
context_section_description: The eastern segment of Highway 7 runs from Donald Cousens Parkway (York Regional Road 48) in Markham to Highway 417 in Ottawa, a length of 381.6 km (237.1 mi). Between Brooklin and north of Sunderland, Highway 7 assumes a north-south routing and is concurrent with Highway 12. The section from Sunderland to the eastern terminus of the highway is designated as part of the Central Ontario Route of the Trans-Canada Highway.
  Travelling east from Donald Cousens Parkway, Highway 7 exits the urbanized portion of Markham and enters the Greenbelt, a large tract of land north of the GTA restricted from development. It curves north at the community of Locust Hill along an alignment that eliminated a jog, then curves back to the east as it crosses into Durham Region. It travels north of and parallel to Highway 407 to Brougham, curving to cross the former eastern terminus of the freeway near Brock Road (Durham Regional Road 1). East of the Highway 407 overpass, Highway 7 widens to four lanes and curves around the community of Greenwood and the hill that it stands on. The route crosses the northern end of Pickering, entering Whitby at Lakeridge Road (Durham Regional Road 23). Between Lakeridge Road and Highway 12, the route was rebuilt for the new Highway 407E and West Durham Link, with an overpass constructed at Cochrane Road. East of that, the route enters Brooklin and meets Highway 12.
  Highway 7 and Highway 12 travel north concurrently from Brooklin through Durham Region to Sunderland, with Highway 7 eventually departing to the east and entering the City of Kawartha Lakes. Despite its name, the highway passes through a mostly-rural landscape in Kawartha Lakes, bypassing south of Lindsay in the middle of the "city" along a brief concurrency with Highway 35. East of Lindsay, the route meanders southeast towards Peterborough, encountering the divided freeway Highway 115 southwest of the city. The two routes travel east concurrently along the southern edge of the city. Highway 115 and the divided freeway end at Lansdowne Street, onto which Highway 7 turns.
  The segment between Peterborough and Perth was built in the 1930s during the Great Depression, as a public works employment project. It was constructed parallel to a CP Rail corridor (now abandoned east of Peterborough) that was built in the 1880s, and used hand-power to dig and build the road whenever possible. From Peterborough to Norwood, the route travels in a straight line through the Peterborough Drumlin Field, connecting to the southern terminus of Highway 28 and crossing the Indian River while otherwise passing through farmland. At Norwood the route suddenly begins to meander as it approaches the undulated Canadian Shield. The section east of Havelock to Perth, unlike the rest of the highway, travels through a relatively isolated area, with few services or residences along the route outside of the several towns that it connects. In contrast to the surroundings west of there, this section is located in dense forest with numerous lakes and muskeg dotting the landscape. It services the villages of Marmora, where it connects with the northern terminus of former Highway 14, Madoc, where it intersect Highway 62, Actinolite, where it meets the northern terminus of Highway 37, and Kaladar, where it intersects Highway 41.
  East of Kaladar, Highway 7 begins to serve cottages along the shores of several large lakes that lie near the highway. It intersects the northern terminus of former Highway 38 near Sharbot Lake and later passes south of Maberly before exiting the Canadian Shield and reentering farmland. On the outskirts of Perth, the route meets former Highway 43 and curves northward. It travels around the western and northern shorelines of Mississippi Lake before passing directly south of Carleton Place. Just east of there, Highway 7 widens into a four lane freeway for the remainder of the distance to Highway 417. This section, completed by early 2012, was built by "twinning" the existing two lane highway with a second parallel carriageway to serve as the eastbound lanes. Highway 7 e
caption: Highway 7 near Omemee, in the City of Kawartha Lakes
exif: {}