Kitchener Downtown
In Kitchener, King Street starts where the Highway 8 Freeport Diversion ends in a half-clo interchange with the Conestoga Parkway. After the Freeport Diversion passes under the Conestoga overpasses, the Highway 8 designation continues on the Conestoga west of the junction if one takes the loop ramp, while going straight ahead will default to King Street, which continues in a northwesterly fashion through the Kitchener downtown area and eventually to the border with Waterloo. The Conestoga Parkway east of the interchange serves as a bypass of King Street.
Although it runs north-south, King Street is labeled east-west, since the city of Kitchener was originally planned relative to the Grand River, which runs north-south. The same is true for the other major north-south routes in the city (e.g., Weber Street), and the reverse is true for the major east-west arteries in the city (i.e., although they run east-west, they are labeled north-south).
King Street is the major street of downtown Kitchener, containing such buildings as the Kitchener City Hall and Market Square. Throughout downtown, it is also lined with shops and boutiques, as well as nightclubs. North of downtown, King Street is home to Grand River Hospital. It also contains television studios (for CKCO), as well as radio stations (96.7 Chym FM, for instance). 91.5 The Beat studio was relocated to the southern end of Kitchener/Cambridge in the Sportsworld plaza back in 2010.
In 2004, when the Highway 8/Conestoga Parkway half-clo interchange was realigned to increased traffic capacity, the number of lanes headed towards King Street was reduced from two to one, due to the need to accommodate the new flyover ramp from the Conestoga to Highway 8.
Read more about this topic: Waterloo Regional Road 15