King's Highway 20, also known as Highway 20, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. Presently, it is a short 1.9 km (1.2 mi) stub between Highway 58 and Niagara Regional Road 70 in the town of Thorold

Thorold, Ontario

Thorold is a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Niagara Escarpment. It is also the seat of the Regional Municipality of Niagara....

.

History

First opened in 1930, Highway 20 stretched 68.2 km (42.4 mi) from downtown Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, Ontario

Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...

 (Lundy's Lane) to a junction with Queen Elizabeth Way

Queen Elizabeth Way

The Queen Elizabeth Way, commonly abbreviated as the QEW, is a 400-Series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The freeway links Buffalo, New York and the Niagara Peninsula with Toronto. It begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western shore of Lake Ontario, ending...

 in east Hamilton

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

 for the majority of its existence. On January 1, 1998, the province downloaded most of the highway onto municipalities of Hamilton and Niagara.

Route description

Even though only 1.9 kilometres of the highway are provincially maintained, the rest of the highway is still maintained to a high standard by the two regions, corresponding to the relatively high volumes of traffic it receives. The Niagara Road 20 and Hamilton Road 20 continue to play an important role in the lives of communities that grew on Highway 20, such as Fonthill

Fonthill, Ontario

Fonthill is a community in the town of Pelham, Ontario, Canada. It has a few small industries, most notably Fonthill Lumber but is primarily a residential suburb known for its middle class homes and community spirit. As a bedroom community, most residents commute to Welland, St...

 and Smithville

Smithville, Ontario

Smithville is a community in the township of West Lincoln. It is located on Regional Road 20 between Hamilton and Niagara Falls in the Niagara Region of Ontario, Canada.-Annual events:...

.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation reportedly kept a short section of Highway 20 because it may have been included in a planned westward extension of Highway 420 to reach Highway 406. The extension, however, was finalized to connect to Highway 58 rather than directly to Highway 406, and therefore the future of this small section of highway is in doubt.

At Allanburg, Highway 20 crosses the Welland Canal

Welland Canal

The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Canada that extends from Port Weller, Ontario, on Lake Ontario, to Port Colborne, Ontario, on Lake Erie. As a part of the St...

 utilizing Bridge 11, also known as The Allanburg Bridge. The Allanburg Bridge is a vertical liftbridge.

The street is named for William Lundy, n United Empire Loyalist and local settler in the area.

Major intersections

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 20. The entirety of the highway is located within the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

Location	km	Destinations	Notes
Allanburg Allanburg, Ontario Allanburg is a community within the City of Thorold, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Welland Canal and Highway 20, both important transportation routes through the Niagara Peninsula. The two cross at a 1932-built vertical-lift bridge, numbered as Bridge 11 by the Saint Lawrence Seaway...	0.0
Thorold Thorold, Ontario Thorold is a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Niagara Escarpment. It is also the seat of the Regional Municipality of Niagara....	1.9