Burnhamthorpe Road

Last updated
Burnhamthorpe Road
BurnhamthorpeStreetSign.jpg
Mississauga burnhamthorpe rd. sign.jpg
Halton Regional Road 27.svg
Halton Regional Road 27
BurnhamthorpeInMississauga.png
Burnhamthorpe Rd. within Mississauga
Maintained byCity of Toronto
City of Mississauga
Region of Halton
Town of Oakville
West end Halton Regional Road 22.svg Tremaine Road (Continues west as No. 1 Side Road)
Major
junctions
Halton Regional Road 25.svg Bronte Road
Halton Regional Road 4.svg Neyagawa Boulevard
Halton Regional Road 3.svg Trafalgar Road
Halton Regional Road 40.png William Halton Parkway.
----Subsumed by W.H. Pkwy.----
Ninth Line
Winston Churchill Boulevard
Peel Regional Road 1.svg Erin Mills Parkway
Mavis Road
Hurontario Street
Peel Regional Road 17.svg Cawthra Road
Peel Regional Road 4.svg Dixie Road
Ontario 427 crown.svg  Highway 427
Kipling Avenue
East end Dundas Street
Nearby arterial roads
 Lower Baseline/Eglinton Avenue
Burnhamthorpe Road
Dundas Street;
Bloor Street  
Aerial view of Burnhamthorpe in Mississauga City Centre BurnhamthorpeAerialMCC.jpg
Aerial view of Burnhamthorpe in Mississauga City Centre
Burnhamthorpe in Toronto Burnhamthorpe Rd map.png
Burnhamthorpe in Toronto

Burnhamthorpe Road is a major arterial road in the cities of Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario; beginning at Dundas Street (from which it initially angles away from before running parallel with), near Islington Avenue, running west and becoming a rural road in the Town of Oakville, where it terminates (after breaking) at Tremaine Road, where it changes name.

Contents

Unlike most major streets originating in Toronto and continuing into the "905" suburbs, only a short portion is located in Toronto and the street is strongly Mississauga-centric. Also, although Burnhamthorpe is commonly seen as the latter city's main east-west street, the parallel arteries of Dundas Street and Eglinton Avenue are (with the notable exception of the City Centre area) busier and have heavier commercial uses along them overall.

The north side of the right-of-way on the street's eastern half through Mississauga is unusually wide as the result of being reserved for a potential light rail transit line that was never built. [1] The reserve was converted into a bicycle trail, [2] with another transit facility (the Mississauga Transitway) being constructed farther north instead.

In Mississauga, the street, unlike most other arterial roads in the regional municipalities surrounding Toronto proper, is not a regional road. However, in Oakville it is signed as Halton Regional Road 27 as far west as Neyagawa Boulevard.

History

Burnhamthorpe Road was originally laid out in 1806 as the first concession road north of Dundas Street in Toronto Township (now Mississauga). It is named after a former hamlet in Mississauga, which in turn was named by settler John Abelson for his hometown of Burnham Thorpe, England. [3] In Toronto, the road was a tolled plank road built in the 1840s running west from the former Village of Islington though Etobicoke Township and was referred to as Mono Sixth Line Road. [4] It was informally also as the Back Line,Adamson Sideroad, and Rogers Road in Toronto Township west of the Credit River, and Back Concession Road in Halton County (present Region) until 1966. [5] The "Back" in these earlier names referred to the practice of backing 200-acre (81 hectare) rectangular farm lots onto the road, while having their access fronting onto the adjacent Dundas Street and what is today Eglinton Avenue. [6]

Until the 1980s, the street was broken by the Credit River, when a high-level bridge was constructed across its deep and wide valley. Further west, to facilitate the crossing of the smaller Mullet Creek ravine by a new alignment, the street deviated southward from its original course, parts of which make up three residential streets; Fifeshire Court, Burbank Road, and Rogers Road (the latter being a historic name) today. [6]

In November 2020, a new arterial road bypass of Burnhamthorpe, named William Halton Parkway (Halton Regional Road 40), was opened through Oakville, subsuming a brief section of it west of Ninth Line. [7]

Route description

Burnhamthorpe begins at Dundas Street in the Islington neighborhood in Toronto's west end and heads west, interchanging with Highway 427. At Renforth Creek there road was re-routed resulting in a stub to the north that runs as Old Burnhamthrope Road. After crossing the Etobicoke Creek, it enters Mississauga and is designated Burnhamthorpe Road East. At Hurontario Street, it passes by the iconic Absolute World condominium towers, enters Mississauga City Centre, and changes to a West designation. A linear park, lined with residential towers, runs along the south side of the street through here. Landmarks located in the City Centre on or near Burnhamthorpe include Square One Shopping Centre; the Living Arts Centre; and Mississauga Celebration Square; with the Mississauga Civic Centre situated just to the north. Continuing west past the city centre area, it traverses a mixed commercial and residential zone, before crossing over the wide Credit River valley on a high-level bridge, and entering the leafy Erin Mills district. Just west of Winston Churchill Boulevard, it narrows to two lanes and crosses over (but has no interchange with) Highway 403. At Ninth Line, it enters still-predominantly rural northern Oakville, and is briefly subsumed by William Halton Parkway, which bypasses Burnhamthorpe through Oakville, but turns off 600 metres (0.4 mile) to the west where William Halton curves northwards. [8] At Sixth Line, the road enters an area where the first development along it through the town is underway (as of 2020). [9] After approximately another 4 km (2.5 miles), it breaks at Highway 407-ETR and the Sixteen Mile Creek. It resumes briefly west of the creek, and terminates at Tremaine Road. Its course is continued west by the Number 1 Side Road.

Public transit

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)

Within the City of Toronto, TTC Route 50 Burnhamthorpe serves the street from Islington subway station to Mill Road. [10]

MiWay

In Mississauga, MiWay Route 26 Burnhamthorpe operates from the South Common Centre (located just west of Erin Mills Parkway), to Islington station in Toronto, serving the Mississauga City Centre Transit Terminal and Kipling station en route. [11] It operates with a "closed-door" policy within Toronto, with westbound-only (to Mississauga) pick-up, and eastbound-only (from Mississauga) drop-off, with the exception of transfers between connecting Miway buses as part of a continuous trip. [12]

Oakville Transit

Oakville Transit Route 24 South Common operates along Burnhamthorpe within Mississauga east of Winston Churchill Blvd. to reach the South Common Centre, although it does not serve the mostly-rural road within Oakville itself. [13]

Bus routing controversy

Burnhamthorpe Road was a relatively minor artery through Etobicoke (previously a separate city within the former Metropolitan Toronto) until traffic increased due to the growth of Mississauga in the 1970's and 80's. Much of this new traffic consisted of a growing number of MiWay (then known as Mississauga Transit) city buses travelling to and from the Toronto Transit Commission's Islington subway station. By the late 1990s, the number of buses had gotten so high that residents with homes on the street began complaining, and demanded that the MiWay buses use Highway 427 and Dundas St. to access Islington station. They even occasionally blockaded buses in what became known as the Battle of the Buses. The councils of both cities got involved and the TTC eventually banned MiWay buses from using the bus bays at the subway station. But by 2001, the ruckus died down and MiWay's buses began fully using the station again. [14] [15] In 2021, all MiWay busses were re-routed to terminate at Kipling Station, and no longer travel on Burnhamthorpe Road east of Highway 427, with the exception of 26 Burnhamthorpe itself. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etobicoke</span> District of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Etobicoke is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River, on the west by Etobicoke Creek, the cities of Brampton, and Mississauga, the Toronto Pearson International Airport, and on the north by the city of Vaughan at Steeles Avenue West.

King's Highway 403, or simply Highway 403, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that travels between Woodstock and Mississauga, branching off from and reuniting with Highway 401 at both ends and travelling south of it through Hamilton and Mississauga. It is concurrent with the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) for 22 km (14 mi) from Burlington to Oakville. The Highway 403 designation was first applied in 1963 to a short stub of freeway branching off the QEW, and the entire route was completed on August 15, 1997, when the section from Brantford to the then-still independent Town of Ancaster was opened to traffic. The section of Highway 403 between Woodstock and Burlington was formally dedicated as the Alexander Graham Bell Parkway on April 27, 2016, in honour of Alexander Graham Bell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kipling station</span> Toronto subway station

Kipling is the western terminus station of Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of the Toronto subway system. The station is served by buses and subway trains operated by the Toronto Transit Commission and is adjacent to the Kipling GO Station on the Milton line of GO Transit and the Kipling Bus Terminal, where passengers can connect with MiWay and GO Transit bus services. It is located in the Islington–City Centre West neighbourhood on St. Albans Road at Aukland Road, west of the overpass of Kipling Avenue, after which the station is named. The 900 Airport Express bus route connects Kipling to the Toronto Pearson International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islington station (Toronto)</span> Toronto subway station

Islington is a subway station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of the Toronto subway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north side of Bloor Street West on the west side of Islington Avenue. A central platform serves trains running in both directions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kipling GO Station</span> Railway station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Kipling GO Station is a GO Transit railway station along the Milton line rail corridor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 27 St. Albans Road in the Islington-City Centre West neighbourhood of Toronto, near Dundas Street. It is connected to the Toronto subway's Kipling station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, along with other Toronto Transit Commission and MiWay and GO Transit bus services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MiWay</span> Public transport agency serving Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

MiWay, also known as Mississauga Transit and originally as Mississauga Transit Systems, is the municipal public transport agency serving Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and is responsible to the city's Transportation and Works Department. MiWay services consist of two types of bus routes: MiLocal, local buses that make frequent stops, and MiExpress, express buses between major destinations. MiWay is the primary operator along the Mississauga Transitway, a dedicated east–west bus-only roadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eglinton Avenue</span> Road in Toronto and Mississauga, Canada

Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 at the western limits of Mississauga, as a continuation of Lower Baseline in Milton. It traverses the midsection of both cities and ends at Kingston Road. Eglinton Avenue is the only street to cross all six former boroughs of Metropolitan Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kipling Avenue</span> Road in Toronto, Canada

Kipling Avenue is a street in the cities of Toronto and Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 6 concessions (12 km) west from Yonge Street, and is a major north–south arterial road. It consists of three separate sections, with total combined length of 26.4 km. (16.4 mi.).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hurontario Street</span> Road in Ontario, Canada

Hurontario Street is a roadway running in Ontario, Canada between Lake Ontario at Mississauga and Lake Huron's Georgian Bay at Collingwood. Within Peel Region, it is a major urban thoroughfare within the cities of Mississauga and Brampton, which serves as the divide from which cross-streets are split into East and West, except at its foot in the historic Mississauga neighbourhood of Port Credit. Farther north, with the exception of the section through Simcoe County, where it forms the 8th Concession, it is the meridian for the rural municipalities it passes through. In Dufferin County, for instance, parallel roads are labelled as EHS or WHS for East of Hurontario Street.

King's Highway 5, commonly referred to as Highway 5 and historically as the Dundas Highway and Governor's Road, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The east–west highway travels a distance of 12.7 km (7.9 mi) between Highway 8 at Peters Corners, north of Hamilton, and Highway 6 at Clappison's Corners. Prior to several sections being downloaded to the municipalities in which they were located, Highway 5 served as bypass to Highway 2, connecting with it in both Paris and Toronto, a distance of 114.3 km (71.0 mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississauga Transitway</span> Bus rapid transit system in Mississauga, Ontario

The Mississauga Transitway is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It comprises a series of purpose-constructed bus-only roadways, as well as reserved lanes on existing city streets and portions of Highway 403, that together form a continuous 18 km (11 mi) route spanning most of the city from Winston Churchill Boulevard in the west to the junction of Highways 401 and 427 in the east on the border with Toronto. Service on the Transitway is provided by MiWay and GO Transit, with some stations providing connections to Brampton Transit and Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) bus services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islington-City Centre West</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Islington-City Centre West is a commercial and residential neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. One of four central business districts outside Downtown Toronto, it is bounded by Rathburn Road to the north, Islington Avenue to the east, Bloor Street to the south, Mimico Creek to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockwood Village</span>

Rockwood Village is a neighbourhood in the eastern part of the City of Mississauga, Ontario, in the Regional Municipality of Peel. Its approximate boundaries are Eglinton Avenue in the north, Burnhamthorpe Road in the south, the Etobicoke Creek on the east and Dixie Road on the west. The Municipal Ward is Ward 3, the Ontario Provincial Riding is Mississauga East—Cooksville and the Canadian Federal Riding is Mississauga East—Cooksville. The Burnhamthorpe branch of the Mississauga Library System is located at the southwestern edge of Rockwood Village at the corner of Burnhamthorpe Road and Dixie Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Branch Loop</span> Streetcar loop in Toronto, Canada

Long Branch Loop is the westernmost stop on the longest Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) streetcar route, the 501 Queen line. It is located in the Long Branch neighbourhood in southwestern Toronto, close to the boundary with Mississauga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renforth station</span> Bus station in Mississauga, Ontario

Renforth, referred to during planning as Renforth Gateway, is a bus station on the border of the cities of Mississauga and Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. Located at Eglinton Avenue and Renforth Drive, it is the eastern terminus of the Mississauga Transitway and is close to the interchange between Highway 401 and Highway 427.

Dundas Street bus rapid transit is a proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor proposed by Metrolinx for the western part of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is part of the regional transportation plan The Big Move. Metrolinx currently refers to the project as Dundas bus rapid transit without the word "Street". The City of Mississauga used the brand Dundas Connects during the development phase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transportation in Mississauga</span>

The transport infrastructure and services in the Canadian city of Mississauga, Ontario include provincial highways and municipal roads, passenger and freight rail, regional and municipal bus service, and an international airport. It is interconnected with air, road, and rail transportation networks spanning the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakeshore Road</span> Road in Ontario, Canada

Lakeshore Road is a historic roadway in the Canadian province of Ontario, running through the city of Burlington and the town of Oakville in Halton Region, as well as the city of Mississauga in Peel Region. As its name implies, the road closely follows the shoreline of Lake Ontario, although the lake itself is not visible from the road in most areas. Lakeshore Road was once a key section of the historic Highway 2, which traversed the province, but has since been downloaded to local municipalities. Despite this historical role as a major route, however, most of the road is a lower-capacity picturesque residential and historic commercial street with only two through lanes until it becomes a four-lane, higher-volume artery after it enters Mississauga and jogs to the north.

References

  1. "The Mississauga Transitway: A History Of The Many Studies". Transit Toronto.
  2. "Burnhamthorpe Trail".
  3. "Burnhamthorpe – Heritage Mississauga".
  4. "History of Etobicoke".
  5. "Town of Oakville Notice (Road name changes)". Canadian Champion. December 7, 1966.
  6. 1 2 "The history of Mississauga's Fifeshire, Burbank and Rogers Road". Modern Mississauga. January 29, 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  7. "William Halton Parkway expansion to ease traffic congestion". Oakville News. March 28, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  8. Google (July 15, 2021). "Distance of subsumed portion of Burnhamthorpe Rd" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  9. Google (July 15, 2021). "Development underway along Burnhamthorpe Rd. and Sixth Line in 2020" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  10. "Routes and schedules". www.ttc.ca. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  11. "Miway 26 map" (PDF).
  12. "Transfers: Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)". Miway.
  13. "24 South Common". www.oakvilletransit.ca. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  14. "A Brief History of Public Transit in Mississauga: Growing Pains". Transit Toronto.
  15. "Ultimatum issued in Battle of the Buses: Accept compromise or more traffic, McCallion warns (Reposted from the Toronto Star)". Transit Toronto.
  16. "MiWay Routes Going to New Kipling Bus Terminal Starting January 4". City of Mississauga.