Despite being surrounded by urban developments, Highway 2A still retains its rural character as it remains unlit and lacks roadside businesses.

[2] The speed limit is 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph), and it is patrolled by the Toronto Police Service.

in Cornwall was a short-lived designation applied along Nine Mile Road (now Power Dam Drive) and Second Street on the west side of the city.

As automobile use in southern Ontario grew in the early twentieth century, road design and construction advanced significantly.

The road was formally opened on November 24, 1917,[8] 18 feet (5.5 m) wide and nearly 40 mi (64 km) long.

[11] Over the next decade, vehicle usage increased substantially, and by 1920 Lakeshore Road was again highly congested on weekends.

Middle Road, a continuation of Queen Street west of the Humber River, was chosen to avoid delays on Dundas or Lakeshore.

[13] Beginning in 1935, McQuesten applied the concept of a dual-highway to several projects along Highway 2, including a section between Birchmount Road and east of Morningside Avenue in what was then known as Scarborough Township.

[21] When widening in Scarborough reached the Highland Creek ravine in 1936, east of Morningside, the Department of Highways began construction on a new bridge over the large valley, bypassing the former alignment around the village of West Hill.

[23] As grading and bridge construction neared completion between Highland Creek and Ritson Road in September 1939, World War II broke out and gradually money was siphoned from highway construction to the war effort.

[16] They are designed for sustained speed, with the best alignments, fewest curves and least grades possible and by-passing centres of population.