King's Highway 48, also known as Highway 48, is a provincially maintained highway in southern Ontario that extends from Major Mackenzie Drive in Markham, through Whitchurch-Stouffville and East Gwillimbury, to Highway 12 south-east of Beaverton. The route is generally rural and straight, passing near several communities within the Regional Municipality of York. The route is long. Most part of the road has a speed limit of , except within town limits, where the speed limit is reduced to or . Highway 48 was first designated in 1937 to connect Port Bolster with Highway 12 in Beaverton. It was extended south to meet with Highway 401 in the 1950s in anticipation of a planned freeway connection around the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe that ultimately became Highway 404. In the mid-1970s, Highway 48 assumed a portion of the route of Highway 46 in Victoria Country, now the city of Kawartha Lakes, extending the route to Highway 35 in Coboconk. Between then and 1998, the route was . However, on January 1, 1998 the province transferred the responsibility of maintaining the southern and northern sections to the regional governments that those sections lie within. Route description Highway 48 is an L shaped route, travelling north through York Region to the southern shores of Lake Simcoe before turning east towards Highway 12. The route is long and travels through the municipalities of Markham, Whitchurch-Stouffville, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, and Brock. Beginning at Major Mackenzie Drive (York Regional Road 25), the route progresses northward from the rural–urban fringe of the Greater Toronto Area into farmland. A future extension of Donald Cousens Parkway will bypass former Highway 48 (Main Street) through downtown Markham in 2018 just north of Major Mackenzie. The route travels northward for along the 8th concession of York Region (Yonge Street being the 1st) to just south of , intersecting with Elgin Mills Road, former Highway 47 (Stouffville Road and Bloomington Road), York Regional Road 15 (Aurora Road), York Regional Road 74 (Vivian Road), York Regional Road 31 (Davis Drive), York Regional Road 13 (Mount Albert Road) and Queensville Sideroad along the way. North of Ravenshoe Road, the highway diverts onto the boundary between York and Durham through the community of Baldwin before jogging east at York Regional Road 79 (Old Homestead Road). Just south of Sutton, the route curves east, meeting York Regional Road 9 (High Street), which travels into the town.