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Highway of Heroes
On August 24, 2007, the MTO announced that the stretch of Highway 401 between Glen Miller Road in Trenton and the intersection of the Don Valley Parkway and Highway 404 in Toronto would bear the additional name Highway of Heroes, in honour of Canada's fallen servicemen and servicewomen,[104] though Highway 401 in its entirety remains designated as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway.[105] This length of the highway is often travelled by a convoy of vehicles carrying a fallen soldier's body, with his or her family, from CFB Trenton to the coroner's office at the Centre for Forensic Sciences in Toronto. Since 2002, when the first of Canada's fallen soldiers were returned from Afghanistan, crowds have lined the overpasses to pay their respects as convoys pass.[106]
The origin of the name can be traced to a June 23, 2007 article in the Toronto Sun by columnist Joe Warmington, in which he interviewed Northumberland photographer Pete Fisher. Warmington described the gathering of crowds on overpasses to welcome fallen soldiers as a "highway of heroes phenomena."[107] This led a Crahame Township volunteer firefighter to contact Fisher on July 10 about starting a petition, leading Fisher to publish an article which was posted to the Northumberland Today website.[108] The online article eventually caught the attention of London resident Jay Forbes. Forbes began a petition, which received over 20,000 signatures[104] before being brought to the Minister of Transportation on August 22.[109] Following the announcement on August 24, the provincial government and MTO set out to design new signs. The signs were erected and unveiled on September 7,[105] and include a smaller reassurance marker (shield) with a poppy and the text "Highway of Heroes" in place of a number, as well as a larger billboard version with English and French text.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario...hway_of_Heroes
On August 24, 2007, the MTO announced that the stretch of Highway 401 between Glen Miller Road in Trenton and the intersection of the Don Valley Parkway and Highway 404 in Toronto would bear the additional name Highway of Heroes, in honour of Canada's fallen servicemen and servicewomen,[104] though Highway 401 in its entirety remains designated as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway.[105] This length of the highway is often travelled by a convoy of vehicles carrying a fallen soldier's body, with his or her family, from CFB Trenton to the coroner's office at the Centre for Forensic Sciences in Toronto. Since 2002, when the first of Canada's fallen soldiers were returned from Afghanistan, crowds have lined the overpasses to pay their respects as convoys pass.[106]
The origin of the name can be traced to a June 23, 2007 article in the Toronto Sun by columnist Joe Warmington, in which he interviewed Northumberland photographer Pete Fisher. Warmington described the gathering of crowds on overpasses to welcome fallen soldiers as a "highway of heroes phenomena."[107] This led a Crahame Township volunteer firefighter to contact Fisher on July 10 about starting a petition, leading Fisher to publish an article which was posted to the Northumberland Today website.[108] The online article eventually caught the attention of London resident Jay Forbes. Forbes began a petition, which received over 20,000 signatures[104] before being brought to the Minister of Transportation on August 22.[109] Following the announcement on August 24, the provincial government and MTO set out to design new signs. The signs were erected and unveiled on September 7,[105] and include a smaller reassurance marker (shield) with a poppy and the text "Highway of Heroes" in place of a number, as well as a larger billboard version with English and French text.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario...hway_of_Heroes
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