Construction of a new route between Simcoe and Brantford took place in the mid-1960s, bypassing the town of Waterford.

In 1997 and 1998, the majority of Highway 24 – both south of Simcoe, as well as north of and through Cambridge – was transferred to the responsibility of the various counties and regions through which it travelled.

[1] North of the town, Highway 24 travels in a straight line northward through Norfolk County, with farmland dominating the surroundings.

It turns northeast and bypasses to the east of the community, then meanders through thick forests for several kilometres.

It returns to farmland and curves northward before intersecting former Highway 53 (Colborne Street West) near Brantford Municipal Airport.

[3] The route joins concurrently with Highway 403 for 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) east into Brantford.

[5] Highway 24 is generally straight and flat as it progresses north through the agricultural countryside of Brant County, but suddenly drops into the Grand River Valley as it enters the Regional Municipality of Waterloo.

[12] The highway turned east at Singhampton and continued to near Glen Huron, where it curved back north to rejoin Hurontario Street until its terminus in Collingwood.

[20][21] As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution platform in 1995, numerous highways deemed to no longer be of significance to the provincial network were decommissioned and responsibility for the routes transferred to a lower level of government, a process referred to as downloading.

[22] On January 1, 1998, the section north of Cambridge, through Waterloo and onward to Collingwood, was transferred to the various counties and regions through which it travelled.

[23] The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 24, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.