Ontario Highway 22

Early European settlement in southwestern Ontario was predominantly focused along the shores of Lake Erie, as water-based routes were the principal means of transportation at the time. However, the War of 1812 made evident the need for overland roads.[10] The Long Woods Purchase and the Huron Tract Purchase, in 1819 and 1833 respectively, opened the lands west of London to settlement.[11][12] Sir John Colborne, the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada in the 1830s, ordered a survey of the lands as well as a road from London to Lake Huron on the shortest line between the two. This line was named in honour of George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont, who was encouraging emigration to the area from England.[13] The surveying itself was carried out by Peter Carroll under the supervision of Mahlon Burwell in 1831 and 1832.[14][8]

A town site named Errol was laid out at the Lake Huron end of the line. While it was expected that Errol would quickly grow in to a thriving port, Sarnia did instead due largely in part to politician and businessman Malcolm Cameron. Cameron advocated for the construction of the London Line, along which Watford and Strathroy were established. By 1850, Errol was abandoned and the London Line was the main thoroughfare between London and the border at Sarnia.[13][15]

Highway 7 and Highway 4 formed the only provincial route between Sarnia and London until Highway 22 was designated.

When Ontario's Department of Public Highways (DPHO) first established a network of provincial highways on February 26, 1920, in order to be eligible for federal funding, it did not provide for a direct route between Sarnia and London.[16] While unimproved roads crisscrossed the intermediate farmland, the only provincial connection between the two cities was a circuitous route along what would become Highway 7 and Highway 4. That route travelled north from Warwick through Arkona, east through Parkhill and Alisa Craig to Elginfield, then south to London.[17] Following the numbering of provincially-maintained roads in the summer of 1925,[18] the DPHO began to assume new routes to complement the fifteen existing highways (numbered 2 through 17, excluding 13).[16][19] Among these was the Sarnia–London Highway, a route that encompassed a portion of Highway 7, as well as a new highway through Watford and Strathroy that would be designated as Highway 22. On July 2, 1927, 40.4 km (25.1 mi) of roads within Middlesex County were taken over, or assumed, by the DPHO. A further 12.8 km (8.0 mi) of roads within Lambton County were assumed eleven days later on July 13.[19]

Paving operations on the Sarnia–London Highway in 1927

While initially unpaved,[17] the DPHO immediately set forth to pave the entire route. Expecting the work to be carried out gradually over several years, paving of 16 km (10 mi) of Highway 7 east from Reeces Corners began June 15, 1927.[20] Progress was much faster than anticipated, and by the end of that month the contractor had been ordered to continue paving as much as possible throughout the remainder of the construction season.[21] Paving began simultaneously at the London end of the route. By the end of the 1927 work was completed west from Hyde Park Road to the community of Lobo, nearly 13 km (8 mi).[19] Another 8 km (5 mi) from Lobo to Hickory Corner was paved in 1928.[22] A 35 km (22 mi) segment of paving was completed on October 28, 1929, uniting the pavement west of Warwick with Hickory Corner. Minister of Highways George S. Henry cut a ribbon at a ceremony in Strathroy that day to officially open the paved Sarnia–London Highway.[23] Despite this, a 4.9 km (3.0 mi) section of Highway 22 between Hyde Park Road and Highway 4 remained unpaved.[22] This final segment was paved in 1930.[24] That year also saw the DPHO renamed as the Department of Highways (DHO) and the introduction of The King's Highway title.[25]

Newly built Masonville Bridge in London in 1929

The chosen route for Highway 22 was approximately 8 km (5 mi) longer than the more direct routing along Egremont Road. While some groups advocated the province instead take over the 22.7 km (14 mi) Sarnia Gravel Road between Wisbeach and Hickory Corner as the Sarnia–London highway, the towns of Watford and Strathroy successfully petitioned for the route to pass through them instead. The mindset of the time was that bypassing the communities would bring about their demise and that tourists would be better served by having frequent access to services and accommodations.[26][27][28] By the 1940s this mentality had flipped to one in which bypasses reduced congestion and accidents by removing through traffic from business areas.[29] On April 16, 1947, the DHO took control of Egremont Road with the intention of reducing the distance between Sarnia and London.[30][31]

The Official Ontario Road Map indicates that Highway 22 continued south along Highway 4 to Highway 2 (Dundas Street) in downtown London from 1940 until 1972,[32][33] after which it is shown continuing along Fanshawe Park Road to Highway 126 (Highbury Avenue).[34][35]

Planning for the route that would become Highway 402 began following the completion of the Blue Water Bridge in 1938. A divided highway was constructed through Sarnia following World War II; it was completed and designated in 1953.[36] The DHO announced its intent to extend the route to Highway 401 in 1957.[37] However, while some preliminary work began in the early 1960s, it would take until 1968 for a preferred route to be announced,[38] and until 1972 for construction to begin.[39] Work was carried out through the remainder of the 1970s, and the freeway was completed and ceremonially opened in late 1982.[40] Now largely rendered redundant by the parallel freeway, the route of Highway 22 was gradually decommissioned and transferred to county and municipal jurisdiction throughout the 1990s.

The London–Middlesex Act, passed December 10, 1992, expanded the municipal boundaries of the City of London effective January 1, 1993.[41] The 5.5 km (3.4 mi) section of Highway 22 between Derwent Road (the former boundary) and 600 m (0.37 mi) east of Denfield Road was consequently transferred to the City of London.[42][43] As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution platform, a 16.5 km (10.3 mi) section of the route between the Highway 7/79 junction north of Watford and the Highway 81 junction north of Strathroy was transferred to Lambton and Middlesex counties on April 1, 1997.[44] This was followed up several months later by the transfer of the remaining 22.3 km (13.9 mi) east of Highway 81 to the London boundary on January 1, 1998.[3] Highway 22 was removed from the provincial highway system as a result of these transfers. Today it is known as County Road 22, Egremont Drive and Fanshawe Park Road.[4] Despite Lambton County designating County Road 22 along London Line between Highway 40 in Sarnia and the county boundary east of Wisbeach, Highway 22 never continued west of Watford.