Highway 2


 * "Highway 2" redirects here. For other highways numbered 2 in the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas, see List of highways numbered 2.

Highway 2 (Traditional Chinese: 國道2號) is an at-grade highway stretching between the City of Lethbridge and the Township of Wellesley, traversing through the biggest city of the region, Archemedes in Gravenhurst Region of the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas. The highway, informally connects Lydia, Archemedes, and Lethbridge, three of the most populated centres in the region. Because of this, the highway is often nicknamed as the Gravenhurst Corridor, or the Corridor of the Region, signifying the importance of this road as a lifeline to the region.

History
Highway 2 was one of the first roads to be built in Gravenhurst Region. When Gravenhurst Region merged with the historical Lethbridge County in 1867, the Government of Gravenhurst proposes a roadway to better link the two urban centres, and this formed the "Lethbridge Avenue" travelling from Archemedes to Lethbridge City Centre. Periodically through different centres of townships, the road is briefly renamed as "Main Street".

Due to increased population of the corridor, the highway was extended north and south towards the Concord County - Gravenhurst Region border to the north, and south to Wellesley in the 1960s. The original highway was proposed to connect the southern city of Lydia, but the plan was later abandoned due to a lack of funding. Highway 2 is now signed to Lydia Shum Din-Ha Parkway in Wellesley Town Centre, with signage pointing for Lydia via the scenic parkway.

At one point, the highway connects to municipalities forming 70% of the region's total population. This allowed Highway 2 to become an important artery road, thriving and becoming the busiest highway in the region. This has also made way to various small townships to bloom along the corridor.

Once the busiest highway in the region, the regional department decided to download, or transfer portions of the roadway to municipal jurisdiction, to better deal with urban traffic. This was done so in 1994. The entire portion running in the Cities of Lethbridge and Warshaw is now a City road. The portion between Dixie - Dundas - Lloydminster/Archemedes Townline to Crowfoot Expressway is also now a City road.

Since then, Highway 2 becomes very unpleasant to be travelled on, with its numerous intersections and traffic lights and speed limits along its routes, especially in urban areas. Thus, beginning in the late 1980s, the Government of Gravenhurst had planned a series of bypass highways to bypass the busy sections of Highway 2, so travelling north-south between Lethbridge and Wellesley via Archemedes will be more efficient. This gave rise to the new Highway 512, a bypass serving a similar area to Highway 2 and encourages faster travel between the aforementioned urban centres. Currently, Highway 512 are self-funded by municipalities with a "City" status, and these sections have different names.

While Highway 512 stretches from Lethbridge to Harrison, the portion between Harrison and Wellesley is still not covered by an expressway bypass.

In recent years, Highway 2 has transformed into an artery for mostly short trips, intra-urban travels, just much like a city road should behave. Intercity travels, including freight truck traffic, are now using Highway 512, and gradually disappearing on Highway 2. Though for south of Harrison, traffic from Highway 512 is redirected back onto Highway 2, and for that section, there is an increase in intercity and freight traffic. Congestion do happen time to time on that section of the road.

Route Description
For most travellers, Highway 2 is often seen with two parts, the northern and the southern. The dividing line is at the City of Archemedes.

The section between Wellesley and Guelph South is more sparsely populated than its northern counterpart. Once proposed to be expanded due to intercity traffic, the plan was withheld and Highway 512 was built instead. This section is thus largely two-lanes, at-grade highway, with the speed limit set at 80 km/h, reduced to 50 km/h while passing through townships along the way.

The highway expands into a four-lane suburban avenue north of Airport Expressway, as the highway now enters the limits of Archemedes. The speed limit remains to be 80 km/h.

Once getting north of Crowfoot Expressway (Highway 1), it enters the core part of Archemedes' urban area, and very densely populated. The road is widened into six-lanes, with a centre lane in the middle, and speed limit is reduced to be 60 km/h, though briefly becomes 90 km/h between Denison Street and Lincoln M. Alexander Expressway.

North of Lincoln Expressway, the roadway widens into eight lanes, and speed limit rises to 70 km/h, as it travels through Downtown Archemedes. The highway enters the Byte Roundabout, the busiest roundabout in the city, at a junction with Highways 5 and 6 in Downtown, and then head north as a six-laned roadway, frequently reduced to four due to roadside parkings as it enters the Gravenhurst Market area. This section is marked with a speed limit of 50 km/h.

As the roadway progresses north of Eden Avenue, the roadway narrows into four lanes, and the speed limit rises to 80 km/h. This remains so for its entire length through Dixie-Dundas-Lloydminster and Guelph. Though when travelling through built-up area, the speed limit drops to 50 km/h.

As a four-laned roadway, Highway 2 enters into the City of Warshaw and expands into a six-lane major industrial thoroughfare. The highway remains to be in six-lanes until the border crossing into Concord County.

Future Prospects
The increased urbanization is significantly transforming Highway 2 into a city road. Intercity traffic are expected to completely dependent on Highway 512 in a few years, which will allow in-city traffic of Highway 2 to flow better.

There are plans to extend Highway 2 to the south to Long Region's border, and this may bring a return flow of freight traffic and intercity traffic on the southern portions of Highway 2.

Public Transportation
Serving as "Main Streets" to numerous cities and towns along its way, numerous public transit routes use the highway and have stops along the road. The road forms the backbone connecting so many population centres, different forms of public transit use the road/corridor.

In particular, The Linx operate the  Gravenhurst Subway , an underground metro line, along Highway 2, between London Line and Gravenhurst Terminal on Eden Avenue to the north. GO Transit offers intercity service on the  Gravenhurst Train Corridor , following the alignment of Highway 2 from McAssure Avenue to Lydia Shum Din-Ha Parkway, connecting Lethbridge with Lydia.

The City of Lethbridge and the City of Warshaw are currently planning to operate a bus rapid transit service, similar to Viva in Vandehogan, along Highway 2 within their respective city limits.