Lawrence Avenue

Lawrence Avenue is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is divided into east and west portions (Lawrence Avenue East and Lawrence Avenue West) by Yonge Street, the dividing line of east-west streets in Toronto.

Route description

The western terminus of Lawrence Avenue is Royal York Road. From there, the road continues as The Westway, a windy arterial road that ends at Martin Grove Road constructed post-World War II to serve the growing Richview neighbourhood development to the south and the Kingsview Village neighbourhood to the north. After only a short stretch in Etobicoke, where it runs through the Humber Heights – Westmount neighbourhood Lawrence crosses the Humber River and enters Weston in the former city of York. East of Weston it enters North York, and passes through the neighbourhoods of Amesbury, Maple Leaf, Glen Park, Lawrence Heights, and Lawrence Manor. Through this section the street is mostly home to low-rise residential, with some retail and office locations.

East of Avenue Road the road enters the Old City of Toronto, and is a major arterial for the North Toronto neighbourhood. This is one of the wealthiest parts of Toronto. Lawrence remains almost wholly residential through this section, with many single family homes. Lawrence Avenue East is interrupted at Bayview Avenue, by the west branch of the Don River. A detour north on Bayview leads to Post Road, and a connection back to Lawrence Avenue on the east side of the valley. This detour runs through The Bridle Path, one of Toronto's most affluent neighbourhoods. East of Leslie Street, Lawrence becomes a principal arterial road, passing through Don Mills. East of the Don River is the Lawrence Avenue exit of the Don Valley Parkway.

Lawrence continues as a six-lane road through most of Scarborough, with many strip malls flanking its sides. Through Scarborough it is the main east-west arterial for a number of neighbourhoods, including Wexford, Bendale, Woburn, and West Hill, Toronto. The segment east of Morningside Avenue is primarily residential. The road end near the Rouge River, east of Port Union where it hits Lake Ontario.

The Toronto Transit Commission's 52 Lawrence, 54 Lawrence East (the longest bus route in the city), 58 Malton, and 162 Donway bus routes provide service along the length of the avenue. The 54A Lawrence East surface route operates from Eglinton Station to Starspray Boulevard near the Toronto-Pickering border. There are three rapid transit stations; Lawrence at Yonge Street and Lawrence West at Allen Road on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line, and Lawrence East on the Scarborough RT, between Kennedy Road and Midland Avenue.

GO Transit has two commuter rail stations on Lawrence Avenue; Rouge Hill^[1], on the Lakeshore East line, and Weston on the Georgetown line^[2].

History

Lawrence Avenue was named for Jacob Lawrence, a tanner and farmer in the area of Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue.^[3] Originally Lawrence Avenue only ran east of Yonge Street, with the road heading west to Weston being named McDougall Avenue^[4]

During Hurricane Hazel in 1954, the Lawrence Avenue bridge over the Humber River was washed out when the river's water levels rose heavily as a result of the rainfall.^[5] When the Don Valley Parkway was constructed in the 1960s, Lawrence was rebuilt between the Woodbine Avenue allowance, and Victoria Park Avenue, as a "jog eliminator" between the former concession roads of North York and Scarborough Townships. This portion to Kingston Road (former Highway 2), is a minimum of six lanes wide. Lawrence Avenue served as the "Base Line" for the Scarborough Township Survey in the 1800s, and remains a key road in that area.

Landmarks

References

• Lawrence family