At the time of its decommissioning, Highway 47 began at Highway 48, and travelled east through a rural portion of Whitchurch-Stouffville along what is now York Regional Road 40 (Bloomington Road), passing through rolling farmland. Only a decade prior, the highway travelled through the town of Stouffville along Main Street, then turned north along the Tenth line, following it to Bloomington Road and York - Durham Line, where it curved gently into the 1997 routing of the highway. The re-routing served to bypass this urban section.[4][5]
Within the Regional Municipality of Durham, the route passed through Goodwood, where it curved northeast through forests. The highway then zig-zagged northeast to the town of Uxbridge. East of there, the highway continued through marshes, past Durham Regional Road 23 (Lakeridge Road), and into flat farmland. The route ended at Highway 12 south of Greenbank.[4]
History
The Stouffville to Greenbank Road was first assumed by the Department of Highways as Highway 47 on October 20, 1937, connecting Stouffville and Uxbridge with Highway 12, south of Greenbank.[2][6]
The highway generally remained unchanged for over half a century, with the exception of a short westward extension on February 10, 1954. On that day, the route was extended to meet Highway 48, which was itself extended south to Scarborough.[7]
Plans arose in 1990 for the province to take over a section of Bloomington Road being reconstructed by York Region, in order to bypass the urban section of Highway 47 through Stouffville.[5] By 1993, the highway had been shifted north of the town along Bloomington Road instead of Tenth Line and Main Street.[8]
The gentle curve at the York–Durham boundary was removed and a signalized intersection created in its place.[3]
Budget constraints brought on by a recession in the 1990s resulted in the Mike Harris provincial government forming the Who Does What? committee to determine cost-cutting measures in order to balance the budget after a deficit incurred by former premier Bob Rae.[9]
It was determined that many Ontario highways no longer served long-distance traffic movement and should therefore be maintained by local or regional levels of government. The MTO consequently transferred many highways to lower levels of government in 1997 and 1998, removing a significant percentage of the provincial highway network.[10]
As Highway 47 generally only served local traffic heading between Uxbridge and the Greater Toronto Area, and not province-wide movement, the route was transferred to the Regional Municipality of York and the Regional Municipality of Durham on January 1, 1998.[3]
It was subsequently redesignated as Durham Regional Highway 47 and an eastward extension of York Regional Road 40.[4]
Major intersections
The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 47, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. This table details the route as it was in 1989, prior to the shifting of the route north of Stouffville.[1]
Highway 48
Highway 12
