List of roads in Toronto

The following is a list of the arterial thoroughfares in Toronto. The city is organized in a grid pattern dating back to the plan laid out by Augustus Jones between 1793 and 1797. Most major roads are aligned in the north-south or east-west direction, based on the shoreline of Lake Ontario. In other words, major north–south roads are generally perpendicular to the Lake Ontario shoreline and major east–west roads are generally parallel to the lake's shoreline. The Toronto road system is also influenced by its topography as some roads are aligned with the old Lake Iroquois shoreline, or the deep valleys. Major roads, which do not conform to the grid pattern and minor streets with documented history or etymology, are listed below.

Diagonals

The following lists roads which do not follow the city grid, often referred to as contour roads. They are listed by the southernmost point of the road, from south to north.

Kingston Road

Dawes Road

Danforth Road

Vaughan Road

Vaughan Road is named after the Township (later City) of Vaughan, which in turn was named after Benjamin Vaughan, a British commissioner whose role was to smooth negotiations between Britain and the United States during the drafting of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The neighbourhood of Oakwood–Vaughan, as well as Vaughan Road Academy, are named after this street. Vaughan Road's contour is the result of it being parallel to the partially buried Castle Frank Brook to the northeast.

Bermondsey Road

Bermondsey Road is named for the administrative borough in London, England. When the O'Connor business park was constructed, the Peek Frean's Biscuit Company was one of the first occupants. When a road was constructed alongside the new factory, Peek Frean's requested it be named Bermondsey, the location of their head office. Bermondsey begins at O'Connor Drive, where it continues east as Yardley Avenue. It zig-zags through the business park to the northwest, ending at Eglinton Avenue East. North of Eglinton, the road is known as Sloane Avenue.^[1]

Black Creek Drive

Black Creek Drive was originally constructed as a southward extension of Highway 400. However, it was built as an arterial road instead, due to the opposition of extending the Spadina Expressway south of Eglinton Avenue, which in turn led to the cancellation of other expressway extensions in Toronto.

Albion Road

Other roads

The following lists roads which are not designated as a major arterial, but for which the reason behind the naming of the street or a history of its construction is documented. They are listed in alphabetical order

John Street

John Street is one of several in the area named after the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada and founder of York, Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe.^[2] The street begins on Front just north of Metro Toronto Convention Centre and north to Stephanie Street. North of Stephanie the street becomes a pedestrian walkway towards Grange Park and the Art Gallery of Ontario.

References

Sources

Bibliography

• Wise, Leonard; Gould, Allan (2000). Toronto Street Names. Firefly Books. ISBN 1-55209-386-7.