Ontario Highway 22

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 officially continued west of Watford, Ontario.

Prior to provincial downloading in the 1990s, Highway 22 began at the Highway 7 and Highway 79 north of Watford, and progressed east towards Highway 4 in London. The first 7.3 kilometres (4.5 mi) were located in Lambton County, and this segment is now known as Lambton County Road 22. East of the Lambton–Middlesex boundary, the route is now known as Middlesex County Road 22.[3]

The highway was built in 1927 as a collector highway to go from Watford to London. In the early 1980s, due to the completion of Highway 402, the road became less popular, until, it was downloaded in 1998. Before the road was downloaded, it was 46.0 kilometres (28.6 mi) in length. The highway was first called Provincial Highway 22, until it was renamed to King's Highway 22 in 1930. In 1947, the road was shortened by 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) as a more direct road alignment had been found. The last gravel sections on the road were paved in 1952. In 1973, it was re-routed through London.

The route of Highway 22 was gradually decommissioned and transferred to local/county 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. The 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) section of Highway 22 between Derwent Road (the former boundary) and 600 metres (0.37 mi) east of Denfield Road was consequently transferred to the City of London.[4]

As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution platform, a significant portion of the Ontario highway network was transferred to local or regional jurisdiction. Ownership of the roadway was transferred to the counties and city that Highway 22 crossed: Lambton County, Middlesex County, and the City of London. On April 1, 1997, a 16.5-kilometre (10.3 mi) section of Highway 22 between the Highway 7/79 junction south of Arkona and the Highway 81 junction north of Strathroy was transferred to Lambton and Middlesex counties.[5] This was followed up several months later by the transfer of the remaining 22.3-kilometre (13.9 mi) east of Highway 81 to the London boundary on January 1, 1998.[2]

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 22, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.[1] 

Division	Location	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Lambton	Warwick	0.0	0.0	Highway 7 / Highway 79 (Arkona Road) – Arkona
Middlesex	Adelaide Metcalfe	7.4	4.6	County Road 6 (Kerwood Road) – Parkhill
		16.5	10.3	Highway 81 (Centre Road) – Strathroy, Parkhill
	Adelaide Metcalfe – Strathroy-Caradoc – Middlesex Centre boundary	22.7	14.1	County Road 39 (Hickory Drive)
	Middlesex Centre	26.2	16.3	County Road 16 (Ilderton Road) – Ilderton
		33.8	21.0	County Road 17 (Nairn Road) – Lobo
London		41.0	25.5	Hyde Park Road – Ilderton
		43.6	27.1	Wonderland Road
		46.0	28.6	Highway 4 – London
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi