Port Union

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Port Union is a neighbourhood on the eastern border of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded by the Rouge River on the east, Port Union Rd. on the west, Lake Ontario to the south, and (nowadays) Highway 401 to the north. The former northern limit to Port Union was Lawrence Ave. The last eastern exit on the highway is located here. Most residents are commuters who travel downtown each day via the 401 or Kingston Road (Highway #2). Average commute times are 40 minutes to 1 hour depending on the level of congestion.

Port Union was part of the Township of Pickering, Ontario until 1984, when municipal reforms in Ontario transferred the neghbourhood to the City of Scarborough. Scarborough was merged with five other municipalities and a regional government to form the new "City of Toronto" in 1998.

The only places of interest or note in Port Union are the eastern edge of the Scarborough Bluffs, Rouge Beach and waterfront trail, and the Rouge Hill GO Transit commuter train station. Rouge Beach is bordered by a natural marsh area which forms part of the Rouge Park reserve, which extends north along the river watershed to the Oak Ridges Moraine. The area west of the Go Transit station has been developed, in recent years, as a community park on the site of old Port Union village. A pioneer hotel structure which was to have been part of the park was torched by vandals during the park construction work. Now surrounded by new residential development, the park is linked by tunnel to a bike trail and shoreline restoration which is part of a waterfront revitalization plan by the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority. Phase I of that project opened in October 2006, part of a waterfront bike trail which will eventually link the lakeshore parks and beaches through Scarborough and Pickering.

This also describes the boundaries of West Rouge, which became part of Scarborough in the mid 1970's.