List of north–south roads in Toronto
The following is a list of the north–south expressways and arterial thoroughfares in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The city is organized in a grid pattern dating back to the plan laid out by Augustus Jones between 1793 and 1797. Most streets 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. Minor streets with documented history or etymology are listed in a [|separate section].
Expressways
Allen Road
William R. Allen Road, known more commonly as Allen Road, the Allen Expressway and The Allen, is a short expressway that travels from Eglinton Avenue West in the south to Kennard Avenue in the north. The portion south of Sheppard Avenue is the completed section of the proposed Spadina Expressway. Allen Road is named after Metro Toronto Chairman William R. Allen and maintained by the City of Toronto. Landmarks along the road include the Lawrence Allen Centre, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Downsview Park.Line 1 Yonge–University runs along the median of much of Allen Road's length.
Don Valley Parkway
The Don Valley Parkway is a controlled-access six-lane expressway in Toronto connecting the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Highway 401. North of Highway 401, the expressway continues as Highway 404 to Newmarket. The parkway runs through the parklands of the Don River valley, after which it is named. It is patrolled by the Toronto Police Service, has a maximum speed limit of and is in length.The parkway was the second expressway to be built by Metropolitan Toronto. Planning for it began in 1954, the year of Metro's formation; the first section opened in 1961 and the entire route was completed by the end of 1966. South of Bloor Street, the expressway was constructed over existing roadways. North of Bloor Street, the expressway was built on a new alignment through the valley, requiring the removal of several hills, the rerouting of the Don River and the clearing of green space. North of Eglinton Avenue, the expressway follows the former Woodbine Avenue right-of-way north to Highway 401.
The parkway operates well beyond its intended capacity of 60,000 vehicles per day and is known for its daily traffic jams; some sections carry an average of 100,000 vehicles a day. Planned as part of a larger expressway network within Toronto, it was one of the few expressways built before the public opposition that cancelled many of the others.
Highway 404
King's Highway 404 is a provincially maintained extension to the Don Valley Parkway, north of the junction with Highway 401. Highway 404 was opened from Sheppard Avenue East to Steeles Avenue East in 1979 and extended north of the Metro Toronto limits shortly thereafter, first to Davis Drive in Newmarket and eventually to Woodbine Avenue just south of Ravenshoe Road in East Gwillimbury.Highway 427
Most of King's Highway 427 travels within Toronto from Browns Line to Steeles Avenue, but it has been extended beyond current city limits to Major Mackenzie Drive. It was initially constructed to Highway 401 from 1953 to 1956 as the Toronto Bypass, then extended to Pearson Airport as the Airport Expressway from 1964 to 1971, and finally designated as Highway 427 in 1972. The section to Steeles Avenue West was completed in 1984.Arterial roads
Avenue Road
There are several stories relating to the origin of Avenue Road. The most popular legend retells that of an early surveying team travelling west along what is now Bloor Street. Upon reaching the location of the intersection with Avenue Road today, the lead surveyor, a Scotsman, pointed north and proclaimed "Let's 'ave a new road here". But this is almost certainly apocryphal; the street was probably named for its tree-lined character. It is a part of the decommissioned Ontario Highway 11A.Avenue Road is also a short residential street that runs from Edgar Avenue north to Weldrick Road connecting the communities of Richvale and Yongehurst in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Although the Toronto section can align with the Richmond Hill sections if connected, the latter is a newer street not officially part of the historic Toronto roadway, unlike the disconnected York Region portions of its counterparts Kipling Avenue, Leslie Street and Woodbine Avenue.
Bathurst Street
Bathurst Street is named after Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, who was British Secretary of War during the reign of George IV. Henry's contributions to Toronto include organizing the successive waves of British settlers following the War of 1812, and granting the charter to the first university in the city, King's College. Bathurst Street originally only referred to the section south of Queen Street. In 1870, the section north of Queen Street became part of Bathurst Street. It was known until then as Crookshank's Lane, after Honourable George Crookshank. The road acted as a driveway to his farm.Bay Street
Bay Street, formerly known as Bear Street, is supposedly a reference to a "noted chase given to a bear" by settlers in that area. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used as a metonym to refer to Canada's financial industry, similar to New York City's Wall Street in the United States. Within the legal profession, the term Bay Street is also used colloquially to refer to the large, full-service business law firms of Toronto, particularly the top-tier law firms known as the Seven Sisters. The street was officially named when the land it occupies was annexed by the first expansion of York. Bay travelled from Lake Ontario to Lot Street, now Queen Street. North of Queen Street and travelling to College Street was Teraulay Street. Several disconnected side streets existed north of there to Davenport Road. In 1922, By-Law 9316 joined these streets together as far north as Scollard Street.By-Law 9884, enacted on January 28, 1924, changed the name of Ketchum Avenue to Bay Street, officially extending it to Davenport Road.
The bend in Bay Street south of Old City Hall reflects this history, serving as a terminating vista.
Bayview Avenue
Bayview Avenue, formerly East York Avenue, was named in 1930 after the estate of Dr. James Stanley McLean, Bay View. The McLean House forms a part of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre today. Several notable estates were built along Bayview Avenue in the early 20th century, many of which still exist since converted to a variety of public uses.Beare Road
Beare Road is named for the Beare family, who were prominent farmers in the Hillside community of northeastern Scarborough.Bellamy Road
Bellamy Road, previously Secord Road, is named for American author Edward Bellamy, who wrote Looking Backwards 2000–1887, about a utopian society. Settlers approached Scarborough Township for a parcel of land to start their own utopia. Although the request was not granted, the road along which they sought to establish their society came to be known as Bellamy Road. The CN grade separation on Eglinton Avenue, built in the early 1960s, split Bellamy Road into two unconnected sections. Consequently, the township of Scarborough renamed the sections as North and South on May 29, 1964.Bellamy Road South begins at Kingston Road and proceeds north to just short of Eglinton Avenue. It is entirely a minor residential street. Bellamy Road North resumes opposite the southern section, just north of the CN tracks and Eglinton GO Station of the Lakeshore East Line. The road becomes Corporate Drive at Progress Avenue, proceeding towards the Scarborough Town Centre. Most of the northern section is residential, though the section between Ellesmere Road and Progress Avenue consists solely of multi-unit warehousing, many of which have been converted into places of worship for various faiths.
Beverley Street
Beverley Street is a southern continuation of St. George Street, located a few metres east of it. It passes by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Italian Consulate in Chinatown.Birchmount Road
Birchmount Road began as a concession line laid out by the surveyors of Upper Canada. For a long time, it remained a rural and little-used route. In the 1920s, it was little more than a dirt path.The southern part of Birchmount Road was one of the first parts of Toronto to see suburban development. This development was in the years immediately before and after the Second World War and was thus not reflective of the car-centred design of much of Scarborough. Birchmount is notable for being the terminus of the only TTC streetcar route ever to travel into Scarborough. The Birchmount Loop was for several decades the turning loop for the Kingston Road streetcar. The first lines in the region were built by the Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company. They were taken over by the TTC, which ran streetcars to Birchmount Loop until 1954. The loop remained in place until 1985, when a condominium was built on the site.
By the 1960s, Birchmount Road had been transformed into its current role as one of the main arterial roads for Scarborough.
Beyond Toronto in Markham, Birchmount Road continues firstly as a residential street to Denison Street, then from Denison Street to Highway 407, it cuts through commercial business parks. In 2011, the road was extended past Highway 407 to north of Enterprise Boulevard to serve as the main street of the new Downtown Markham, a planned new central downtown core to replace that city's historic, but now nodal, Markham Village. A bridge crossing the Rouge River was built to complete the road between Enterprise Boulevard and Highway 7 to tie into Village Parkway.