Historical Hamilton-Wentworth signage questions

[Andrew T.]

I've been trying to make sense out of the history of numbered roads in Hamilton, Ontario, and I've run into a few questions that I don't know the answers to:

• How were county and regional roads in Wentworth County and Hamilton-Wentworth signed prior to the 2000s?  I assume they used white flowerpots, but I have no idea what verbiage was used.
• How were downloaded provincial highways in the region signed in the transitional period between 1997/98 and the 2001 amalgamation?
• I recently located a map from 1984 that shows numerous regional roads with three-digit numbers; the first digit linked to the township.  When (and why) were these roads de-numbered?

Might anyone know the answers?  Thanks!

[cbeach40]

How were county and regional roads in Wentworth County and Hamilton-Wentworth signed prior to the 2000s?  I assume they used white flowerpots, but I have no idea what verbiage was used.

Primarily Hamilton-Wentworth's RR markers were blue and gold flowerpots:



I did find some B&W flowerpots. This one fell within Brant County, so it's possible it was made by them. Or it's possibly really old, hard to tell here:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ce2e8HLrrtcHMNgi8
This one looks very much like it was MTO-made:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/fLmCNVQkM5CF8GP37

There was also this weird hybrid of colours (can see in the full size image it's a standard metal flowerpot bolted to the plywood sign):

https://www.asphaltplanet.ca/ON/hwy_3-9_images/Hwy8_p3_images.htm

How were downloaded provincial highways in the region signed in the transitional period between 1997/98 and the 2001 amalgamation?

As I recall in the rural areas they were re-designated fairly quickly. This example on old Highway 99, while anytime GSV has been through here it's been a City of Hamilton flowerpot, can see it has a blue & gold tab from when it would have had an H-W marker there:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/aywC3yLV3r71mP7c7

In the urban areas the provincial signage survived far longer, it really didn't get a wholesale replacement until the city-wide numbering updates.

I recently located a map from 1984 that shows numerous regional roads with three-digit numbers; the first digit linked to the township.  When (and why) were these roads de-numbered?

Sometime between 2004 and 2006 Hamilton got rid of the numbering from all of their former regional roads save most of the former provincial highways, and RR-65. As it was now a single-tier municipality it didn't need a regional road network from the road authority standpoint. They opted to keep just those ones as they would be the ones for which there would be the greatest benefit for wayfinding to have both a name and number.

[Andrew T.]

Wow, thanks for your response!!  This answers a lot.

Primarily Hamilton-Wentworth's RR markers were blue and gold flowerpots:

Gold-on-blue flowerpots...I wouldn't have expected that!  Unusual signs for Ontario; they almost look American.

I did find some B&W flowerpots. This one fell within Brant County, so it's possible it was made by them. Or it's possibly really old, hard to tell here:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ce2e8HLrrtcHMNgi8
This one looks very much like it was MTO-made:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/fLmCNVQkM5CF8GP37

These are very interesting...but oh, my eyes!  "H-W" just looks cryptic, while the latter solution (Series B scrunched and distorted to cram 17 letters into one line) is a visual trainwreck!  I'm surprised they never had the signs read "HAMILTON"/(number)/"WENTWORTH," similar to what's done in Chatham-Kent.

As I recall in the rural areas they were re-designated fairly quickly. This example on old Highway 99, while anytime GSV has been through here it's been a City of Hamilton flowerpot, can see it has a blue & gold tab from when it would have had an H-W marker there:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/aywC3yLV3r71mP7c7

Do you know if the numbers of downloaded highways stayed consistent as their status changed (i.e., Ontario 99 > Hamilton-Wentworth 99 > Hamilton 99), or was there any attempt to renumber them into the 3-digit Regional Road system?

Sometime between 2004 and 2006 Hamilton got rid of the numbering from all of their former regional roads save most of the former provincial highways, and RR-65. As it was now a single-tier municipality it didn't need a regional road network from the road authority standpoint. They opted to keep just those ones as they would be the ones for which there would be the greatest benefit for wayfinding to have both a name and number.

That's a shame, IMO, since I've always preferred numbered roads to non-numbered from a navigational and roadgeek standpoint.  But I'm not in charge.

I've also located a 1960 map that shows county roads with 1- and 2-digit numbers correlated to the later 3-digit numbers (Wentworth County #3 became #203 and #503, for example).  Any idea what kind of signage would have been used in that era?

[AsphaltPlanet]

I believe some maps showed the the former provincial highways as having the municipal suffix on them, but in the field, Hamilton didn't start removing and resigning for several years after downloading, so I doubt there were any flowerpots posted in the field in the interim between the highways being downloaded and the Region of Hamilton-Wentworth being reduced to the single tier City of Hamilton.