Brimley Road
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brimley Road is a north-south street in Scarborough and York Region, Ontario, Canada. The road carries 32000 vehicles daily as of May 2007[1] and is classified as a major arterial road by the city of Toronto.[2]
Beginning at Scarborough Bluffs by Lake Ontario,[3] Brimley weaves through Scarborough, past Steeles Avenue and ends at 14th Avenue in Markham. The Scarborough portion is mainly residential with small strip plazas along the way. North of Finch Avenue is Brimley forest, a small patch of what the area once looked like. Past Steeles, Brimley weaves through the residential areas of the Milliken community of Markham.
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[edit] History
The corner of Brimley Road and Sheppard Avenue marks the central location around which the community of Agincourt was formed during the mid-1800s.[4] The road has also come to border the neighbourhood Kennedy Park[5] and the electoral districts Scarborough—Agincourt[6] and Scarborough—Rouge River.[7]
A museum off Brimley north of Lawrence Avenue East in Thomson Park pays tribute to the founding family of the former Township of Scarborough; West Highland Creek, a tributary of the Highland Creek, runs through the park.
[edit] 401 overpass
The section south of Sheppard was once interrupted at Highway 401. An CA$11 million overpass and partial interchange of the freeway was built and opened on 18 October 1987 over the objections of many area residents on concerns over increased traffic volume. In an attempt to address these concerns, it was initially restricted to transit buses and emergency vehicles.[8] After a few months of widely-reported public pressure, Scarborough City Council voted 18 February 1988 to open the overpass to general traffic.[9]
[edit] Massive mudslide
A section of Brimley Road near Bluffer's Park was closed after a massive amount of dirt from a disused municipal dump site slid onto the roadway. This was blamed on significant amounts of rainfall at the time were blamed for this incident, which cut off access to Bluffer's Park and the associated marina. The situation was not stabilised sufficiently for cleanup for two weeks.[10][11][12]
[edit] Public transit
The main Toronto Transit Commission bus route on Brimley Road is the 21 Brimley, which runs from Steeles Avenue to Eglinton Avenue, stopping on the way through the Scarborough Centre RT station. At Eglinton, it turns west to the Kennedy subway station. The old route of 128 Brimley North, which ran from Scarborough Centre to Steeles through McCowan Road and Sheppard Avenue, had started when the RT opened and became merged with the 21 in the late 1990s.
The 131E Milner Express runs on Brimley between Scarborough Centre and Eglinton during peak hours, stopping only at Lawrence Avenue. The 12B Kingston Road serves Brimley from Kingston Road to Eglinton during peak hours as well.[13] South of Kingston Road, Brimley Road South has served as the off-street loop for a number of routes since the 1950s, with the 12 Kingston Road doing this since 1968.
In 2002, the TTC examined the feasibility of building a Scarborough RT station at Brimley Road. It concluded that demands are not enough, and instead a pedestrian walkway was built towards Scarborough Centre station. In 2007, it was stated that the issue will be re-examined when significant land developments take place west of Brimley Road near the proposed location of Brimley station.[14] In February 2008 the TTC made a motion that the current study should include the addition of a station where the existing line crosses Brimley Road.[15]
[edit] Landmarks
- Brimley Woods Park
- Chartwell Plaza
- Oriental Centre
- C.O. Bick Police College
- Scarborough Town Centre
- Bluffer's Park
- Thomson Memorial Park and Scarborough Memorial Museum[16]
- Historical Cemeteries
- Resthaven Memorial Gardens; west side between St Clair and Kingston Road.
- St Andrew's Cemetery, east of Brimley on St Andrew's Road.
- Ebenezer United (formerly Methodist) Church, northwest corner of Steeles and Brimley in Markham.
[edit] References
- ^ Proposed Right-Turn Lane Designation Northbound Brimley Road at Progress Avenue (PDF). City of Toronto (14 May 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Classifications of City Streets. City of Toronto (June 2000). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ "T.O's un-tourist guide", Toronto Star, 2007-07-29. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Scarborough Community Names. Scarborough Historical Society. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Jeff Gray. "Report finds shortchanged neighbourhoods" (fee required), The Globe and Mail, 2005-07-01. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Scarborough-Agincourt. Elections Ontario (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Scarborough-Rouge River. Elections Ontario (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
- ^ Abbate, Gay. "Stage set for final battle on Brimley, 401 overpass", The Globe and Mail, 17 December 1987, p. A23.
- ^ "Committee votes to open Brimley Road", The Globe and Mail, 19 February 1988, p. A13.
- ^ "Mudslide buries Brimley Road", The Globe and Mail, 16 April 1991, p. A7.
- ^ "Toronto in Brief: Landslide cleanup under way", The Globe and Mail, 1 May 1991, p. A12.
- ^ Transcript of Debates (issue #L018). Legislative Assembly of Ontario (17 April 1991). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.. See section "Landslide in Scarborough", statement by Steve Owens, MPP Scarborough Centre.
- ^ Route Schedules. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Gary Webster (2007-02-27). Staff Response to Commission Inquiry – Scarborough RT Strategic Plan. Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ TTC Minutes - February 27, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-30.
- ^ City of Toronto: Scarborough Historical Museum
[edit] External links
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