Conestoga Parkway

Conestoga Parkway
Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway
Conestoga Parkway highlighted in red
Route information
Length	20.7 km[1] (12.9 mi)
Existed	September 19, 1968–present
Major junctions
West end	Trussler Road
Major intersections	Highway 8 – Cambridge  Highway 7 – Guelph
North end	350 metres (383 yd) north of King Street North interchange
Location
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Major cities	Kitchener, Waterloo
Highway system
Roads in Ontario

The Conestoga Parkway, officially the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway, is a controlled-access highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, located entirely within the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. The 20.7-kilometre (12.9 mi) route travels east and then north through the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, and is connected to Highway 401 via Highway 8 and King Street East. The name Conestoga Parkway is not a formal designation, but rather a local name applied to the divided expressway portions of Highway 7, Highway 8 and Highway 85 through Kitchener and Waterloo. The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), which built and maintains the route, refers to it as the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway.

Originally conceived as a ring road in the 1940s, the concept evolved into a pair of at-grade four lane boulevards known as Henry Sturm Boulevard (east–west) and Dryden Boulevard (north–south), for which land was gradually purchased through the 1950s and into the early 1960s. The completion of Highway 401 between Toronto and Highway 8 in 1960 resulted in businesses relocating closer to it; consequently, traffic planners redesigned the boulevards into a continuous four lane expressway in 1962.

Construction of the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway began in 1966 with the rebuilding of King Street East into a divided highway. This project also resulted in the construction of the interchange with the future expressway, which was named the Conestoga Parkway in 1967. The northern and western legs were built outwards from this interchange simultaneously over the following five years, opening in sections between 1968 and 1971. At that time, the route extended west to Fischer-Hallman Road and north to the southern interchange with King Street North. Two lane extensions opened in 1973 and 1977 to connect the parkway with New Hamburg and St. Jacobs, respectively. Portions of these were expanded to four lanes in the early 1990s. A series of projects saw the parkway completely rebuilt through its central section between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, including a concrete median barrier, additional lanes, and a new flyover ramp at Highway 8.

An ongoing but frequently delayed project to construct a new freeway between Kitchener and Guelph will see a new interchange built at the existing Wellington Street interchange, in addition to the numerous bridges that have already been lengthened in the vicinity. There is currently no projected timeline for the construction of completion of this project as of 2022.