Name tags for 400-series highways

Communities Canada
1

A number of 400-series highways have various names associated with them -

401: Macdonald–Cartier Freeway; Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway; Highway of Heroes
403: Alexander Graham Bell Parkway; Chedoke Expressway
405: General Brock Parkway
407: Express Toll Route
416: Veterans Memorial Highway
417: Pierre Elliott Trudeau Highway; Queensway

Some of these names predate their 400-series designation, e.g. the “Queensway” in Ottawa. A couple of these names apply to a newly constructed section: e.g. Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway. Still others were “renamed” wholesale by acts of legislation: e.g. “Veterans Memorial Highway”, “General Brock Parkway”.

This is a discussion for the best applications of their different name tags.

2

I’m not sure how many people in Canada read this forum. talk-ca mailing list is probably more popular place to have this discussion.

After thinking about this for a while and reviewing the sinage on local roads, the name should be “Highway 4xx”. While there are official names for the roads, these are rarely used. If I am on the 417 and am taking the exit for 416, the signs say “416 towards 401” and not “Veterans Memorial Highway towards Macdonald-Cartier Freeway” (https://www.mapillary.com/app/?lat=45.34514371&lng=-75.80951830999999&z=17.897866003028536&pKey=zXxUsHdje935qGRXzw_Zhg&focus=photo)

So if we rename roads using their various names, I think people will be confused. Ok to have those names as secondary names of course.

3

Living just off Highway 416, nobody really calls it “Veterans Memorial Highway” here, even though it’s the official name. If you ask a local how to get to Veterans Memorial Highway you’d probably get a blank look.
IMO it should have name=“Highway 416” with alt_name=“Veterans Memorial Highway”