King Edward Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the eastern part of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
King Edward Avenue runs from the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge southward to the Queensway. The street was originally named "King Street" and was renamed to honour King Edward VII. In the 19th century the street had the "by-wash" running through its centre, an open sewer that ran from the Rideau Canal to the Rideau River.
The by-wash was removed and replaced with a tree lined boulevard, making King Edward one of Ottawa's prettiest streets in the early 20th century. With the construction of the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge and the Queensway, however, the street became congested with large commercial vehicles and quickly became dirty and dangerous.
King Edward cuts directly down the centre of two of downtown Ottawa's oldest neighbourhoods, Lower Town and Sandy Hill. Rideau Street divides both Sandy Hill and Lower Town, while the Rideau River, Rideau Canal, and the Ottawa River serve as natural boundaries to the rest of these two communities. The Byward Market is a sub-component of Lower Town.
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