Allen Road
Allen Road, formally known as William R. Allen Road, is a short municipal expressway and arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue West, heading north to just south of Transit Road, then continues as an arterial road north to Kennard Avenue, where it continues as Dufferin Street. Allen Road is named after Metro Toronto chairman William R. Allen and is maintained by the City of Toronto. Landmarks along the road include the Lawrence Heights housing project, Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Downsview Park, and Downsview Airport. A section of the Line 1 Yonge–University subway is located within the median of the expressway from Eglinton Avenue to north of Wilson Avenue.
The portion south of Transit Road was originally constructed as part of the Spadina Expressway project. The Spadina was proposed in the 1950s as a north–south freeway, intended to connect downtown Toronto to the suburbs of North York and to serve the Yorkdale Shopping Centre project; it was only partially built before being cancelled in 1971 due to public opposition. Initially proposed in the 1950s as part of a network of freeways surrounding Toronto, its cancellation in 1971 ended proposals for other proposed expressways into and around Metro Toronto. Despite this, extensions were opened south to Eglinton in 1976 and north to Kennard Avenue in 1982.
In 1983, the Province of Ontario, the City of Toronto and the government of Metropolitan Toronto agreed to a land transfer that saw a strip of land south of Eglinton, as well as the right-of-way for the proposed expressway, transferred to the city in exchange for the fully-constructed arterial extension of Highway 400 now known as Black Creek Drive. Various proposals since to extend Allen Road south of Eglinton—either above or below ground—have never gained traction, and the route remains a backlogged stub of the original proposals. Despite this, the decision to cancel the Spadina—and by extension similar expressways into downtowns—has been regarded as one of the defining moments of urban planning in Canada.
Route description
Allen Road is a road located within Toronto. The four-to-eight lane route connects Eglinton Avenue West with Kennard Avenue, north of which the roadway continues as Dufferin Street. It is classified by the City of Toronto as an expressway from Eglinton Avenue to Transit Road and as a major arterial from Transit Road to Kennard Avenue. As such, bicycles and pedestrians are prohibited on the route south of Transit Road. The outermost lanes of Allen Road from Sheppard West station north to Kennard Avenue are high-occupancy vehicle lanes.Allen Road begins at Eglinton Avenue West with two separate signalized intersections serving the opposing directions of travel on the expressway. The northbound lanes intersect Eglinton Avenue West to the east of Cedarvale station, while the two southbound lanes connect to Eglinton Avenue west of the station. It proceeds north to Lawrence Avenue West as a four-lane expressway with a speed limit of in the northerly direction until north of Eglinton Avenue.
The tracks of the Line 1 Yonge–University subway are situated between the carriageways in a right-of-way, with each station's TTC bus terminal also being located between them. The roadway intersects with Lawrence Avenue West, with the ramps to and from each carriageway meeting at a set of traffic lights. North of Lawrence Avenue, the route is eight lanes, with a speed limit of. Ramps connect to and from Yorkdale Road, flanking Yorkdale station between them.
The Allen proceeds on bridges over the lanes of Highway 401, with ramps from the Allen to Highway 401 passing overhead. The interchange also serves to connect Yorkdale Road with Highway401. The exit from the northbound Allen to Highway401 serves as a ramp to both directions of Highway401, with two lanes proceeding north of Highway401. Similarly, two lanes are provided southbound over Highway401, and access from the eastbound and westbound 401 merges with the Allen south of Yorkdale Road. Access to Yorkdale Road from the eastbound 401 is provided at the partial Dufferin Street interchange to the west. The southbound ramp from the Allen to the eastbound 401 flies over the whole interchange and connects with the eastbound 401 collector lanes. The subway is situated on bridges over Highway401 between the northbound and southbound lanes.
North of Highway401, the Allen is four or six lanes. It passes over Wilson Avenue, with Wilson station being above the namesake avenue within the median of Allen Road, and meets with Transit Road at a signalized intersection. The subway diverges from the route just north of Wilson Avenue, where there is a large subway yard and bus garage known as Wilson Yard, to the west of the road. Just south of Transit Road is a partial interchange with Wilson Heights, the former northern terminus of the road until 1982.
North of Transit Road, Allen Road is an arterial road with four or six lanes. It features a concrete barrier between the opposing lanes north to a signalized intersection with Sheppard Avenue West. The speed limit along Allen Road through this section is. It continues north, with signalized intersections at Rimrock and Kennard Avenue. The road becomes Dufferin Street north of Kennard Avenue.
Cameras
cameras are found on the roadway in nine locations:History
Spadina Expressway
The Spadina Expressway was one of several intraurban freeways proposed in the 1950s to crisscross Toronto. It was intended to carry commuter traffic from the Toronto suburbs north of Highway 401 into the downtown of Toronto, via the Cedarvale and Nordheimer Ravines and Spadina Road. Various versions of the proposal showed it starting to the north of North York at today's highway 407, between Bathurst and Dufferin Streets. It then travelled south to meet highway 401 a half-mile east of Dufferin. It was cancelled due to public opposition, although not before the northern section was started and the expropriation of a number of homes.The interchange at Highway401 evolved to a complex three-level turbine design featuring 26 bridges, the most-complex in Canada at the time. At the same time, Highway401 was being widened from four lanes into a twelve-lane highway. From Highway401 south to Eglinton, the roadway was to be in a trench, with the rapid-transit line in the middle. South of Eglinton, it continued into the Cedarvale Park below ground level. Plans were initially for the road to be on the surface of the ravines and the subway below the surface as far as Spadina Road, with a tunnel under St. Michael's College north of St. Clair. Another plan projected the roadway to be completely underground through this stretch, on top of the subway line. From Spadina Road south of St. Clair, the roadway would be underground to its end at Davenport Road.
Various proposals for the Spadina south of Bloor Street were made. The 1969 functional design proposed an express route in the centre of Spadina Avenue, and parallel two-lane service roads on either side to provide access to properties. Other proposals included no highway south of Sussex Street, near Harbord Street.
1943–1961: Planning for the route
By the 1940s, urban development extended past the boundaries of Toronto. It was recognized within the planning department that the farmland surrounding the city would soon be developed. In 1943, the City of Toronto Planning Board developed a plan for the area within a nine-mile radius of Yonge Street and Queen Street. It included a network of superhighways, one of which followed a similar routing to the future Spadina Expressway proposal.In November 1947, the City of Toronto Civic Work Committee approved a plan submitted by the Toronto City Planning Board for two new arterial roads: one running east–west along the lakeshore named the Waterfront Highway and another running north–south to the west of downtown. The north–south route entailed construction of a new road from Front Street to St. Clair Avenue along the route of the existing Spadina Avenue and Spadina Road. The jog at Bloor Street connecting the two existing roads would be straightened and a new cut of the Davenport Road escarpment would be made, adjacent to Casa Loma. The proposal was added to the January1, 1948, municipal election, where it was narrowly approved by voters 34,261 to 32,078. While the proposal was adopted, the narrow approval led councillors to hold off on approval of construction.
A proposal for a highway from the northwest to downtown was developed in 1949 by the Toronto and Suburban Planning Board, part of a plan for numerous expressways in the Toronto area, including the "Lakeshore Expressway" and Don Valley Parkway. It was to be named "North West Drive", or the "Spadina Road Extension". The route was laid out by two members of the board, future Metro chairman Fred Gardiner and James P. Maher, chairman of the Toronto Planning Board. The proposal died when York Township rejected the idea.
Shortly after Metropolitan Toronto was formed in 1953, it proposed building "superhighways" into and out of downtown, as well as encircling the downtown with an "expressway ring". The routes of the Lakeshore and Don Valley expressways were less controversial and allowed to proceed, while others were put off for further study, as they would cut through developed areas and were considered lower priority. The Spadina Expressway was first conceptualized in December 1953 and became part of the Metro official transportation plan in 1959. The original plan intended to connect a "Highway403 bypass" in the vicinity of today's Highway407 in the city of Vaughan south through the borough of North York, just east of Downsview Airport, then south between Dufferin Street and Bathurst Street to Eglinton. The highway would have entered Castle Frank Brook south to St. Clair Avenue through the borough of York. It would then enter Toronto proper south through the Annex neighbourhood, connecting to the east–west Crosstown Expressway north of Dupont Street before ending at the intersection of Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue.