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 that 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.

Trethewey Drive

Trethewey Drive was a private rural road formerly named Holmstead Drive on mine owner W.G. Trethewey's farm. In 1910, the property became the site of Toronto’s first airplane flight, with French ace Count Jacques de Lesseps circling the city. Trethewey airfield, later renamed De Lesseps Field, hosted de Havilland Canada and the Royal Canadian Air Force before the land was sold for development in 1941.^[2] The boroughs of North York and York later assumed control of the road.^[3]

Rexdale Boulevard

Rexdale Boulevard
Location:	Islington Avenue -  Highway 427

Rexdale Boulevard is a short, but major east–west roadway in Rexdale, a neighbourhood in Toronto, and begins as a spur road off Islington Avenue just north of the 401. This spur originally began in the former village of Weston as a road northwest to what would later become Brampton, Ontario. The current road passes through a mostly light industrial stretch of north Etobicoke. West of Highway 427, Rexdale becomes Derry Road and enters the city of Mississauga, Ontario. Derry is also signed as Peel Regional Road 5, an east–west route that travels the entire length of the city of Mississauga and Peel Region. Derry Road is the northern boundary of Toronto Pearson International Airport. The intersection of Derry and Airport Road was once the site of Malton, itself a part of Mississauga. At the intersection with Mavis Road, the road makes a large jog around the former village of Meadowvale. This jog created a stretch of road called Old Derry Road and can also be seen in a small stretch of Syntex Crescent. Derry Road is named for the "lost village" of Derry West, which was located around the Hurontario and Derry intersection.^[4] Derry West was named after Derry (officially Londonderry) in Northern Ireland and home of many settlers in the area.

West of Highway 407, Derry Road enters Halton Region as Halton Regional Road 7. This stretch of road is mainly rural except for the section between James Snow Parkway and Tremaine Road in Milton. After passing through another rural stretch, the road ends at Milburough Line in the town of Carlisle in Hamilton (formerly in Flamborough before amalgamating with Hamilton in January 2001).

Albion Road

Albion Road was created as a private road for French teacher Jean du Petit Pont de la Haye to his estate in the area. Originally called Clairville, it was renamed for the Albion Township just north of the area in what is now Brampton, Ontario. The road is located within Toronto, starting at the intersection of Weston Road and Walsh Avenue (continues eastward as Wilson Avenue) and heads northwest to Albion and Steeles (becoming County Road 50). Albion Road northwest of Highway 27 was formerly Highway 50.

List of numbered roads in Toronto

There are two numbered roads within Toronto, both of which are former provincially maintained highways:

• Ontario Highway 27 - now simply referred to as Highway 27 by Toronto Transportation Services
• Ontario Highway 2A - now simply referred to as Highway 2A by Toronto Transportation Services

Both routes were transferred by the Ministry of Transportation to the City of Toronto in 1997/1998 as they were deemed not to be of provincial significance.

Highway 27 uses standard blue street signs with the name Highway 27 at most intersections. Trailblazer shields continue (at on ramps from Albion Road and Dixon Road) to direct motorists to Highway 27. The province continues to maintain the section of Highway 27 south of Dixon Road to Highway 427.

As Highway 2A does not have any intersections, it lacks the blue trailblazers and instead directs motorists to Highway 401 or to Kingston Road.

Other roads

The following lists roads that 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

Bond Street

A short street from Gould Street to Queen Street East, it is home to many historic buildings and associations with many historic figures of the city:

• Mackenzie House - 82 Bond Street home to the first Mayor of Toronto William Lyon Mackenzie^[5]
• 70 Bond Street was home to Canadian operations of publishing houses, including Macmillan Publishers and Doubleday Publishing and visited by many Canadian writers like Alice Munro, Morley Callaghan, Grey Owl^[5]
• Oakham House - home to architect William Thomas of St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica (Toronto), St. Lawrence Hall^[5]
• First Evangelical Church of Toronto c. 1897 - home to many German Torontonians
• 105 Bond Street - former home of Macmillan, Doubleday Canada^[5]
• St. George's Greek Orthodoxy Church - 115 Bond Street was formerly home to Holy Blossom Temple c.1897 and linked to Toronto's oldest Jewish congregation (Toronto Hebrew Congregation c. 1849)^[5]
• Kerr Hall, Ryerson University - site of Toronto Normal School
• O'Keefe House - 137 Bond Street home of early Toronto brewer Eugene O'Keefe, founder of O'Keefe Brewery Company of Toronto Limited (later as Carling O'Keefe Breweries)
• St. Michael's Cathedral and Boys Choir School.

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.^[6] 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.

Rees Street

Rees Street is named for Dr William Rees (1800–1874), a physician who provided health services to immigrants to the city in the 19th Century, as well as being an advocate for social reform and public services.^[7] Rees established at public bath on wharf, which was informally named Rees Wharf at the foot of Peter/John Street (now lies somewhere between Rogers Centre and the CN Tower). After Rees' death, the wharf became the water works, a water pumping station.

See also

• List of north–south roads in Toronto
• List of east–west roads in Toronto

References

Sources

Bibliography

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