List of contour roads in Toronto

Albion Road
Length	9.5 km (5.9 mi)
Location	Weston Road and Walsh Road–Steeles Avenue; (Continues North into Vaughan/Brampton as Highway 50); (Continues east as Walsh/Wilson Avenues)

Last updated April 19, 2024

The following lists roads in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that do not follow the city grid, often referred to as contour roads or diagonal roads. They are listed by type of road, then alphabetically.

Arterial roads

Albion Road

Albion Road was created as a private road for French teacher Jean du Petit Pont de la Haye (1799–1872) to his estate in the area (the plank road was built in 1846 by Weston Plank Road Company from Musson's Bridge over Humber River to Bolton). Originally called Claireville , it was renamed for the Albion Township, which was the eastern third of the present-day (since 1973/1974) limits of Caledon. 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 Road and Steeles Avenue (becoming Regional Road 50).

The beginning of the road is Walsh Avenue, a short connector between Albion Road and Wilson Avenue. The intersection at Weston Road and Walsh Avenue is a ramp with two traffic lights for Albion Road/Walsh Avenue and none for Weston Road.

Albion Road northwest of Highway 27 was formerly Highway 50, but later became Peel Regional Road 50 and Simcoe County Road 50 due to downloading from the province. The northern end of Highway 50 is Ontario Highway 89 by the town of New Tecumseth in Simcoe County.

Albion Road is served by TTC route 73C and the southern section is served by route 118.^[1] Until 1990, the section was serviced by the 36 Finch West and 118 Finch via Allen Road (cancelled in 1996 due to low ridership and the opening of Sheppard West station).

Danforth Road

Danforth Road is a historically related arterial street in Toronto. Danforth Road splits off Danforth Avenue west of Warden Avenue and runs diagonally northeast until south of Lawrence Avenue, where it continues as McCowan Road. McCowan Road itself ends at Baseline Road located in Georgina, which is the northernmost municipality in York Region.

The route is served by TTC route 113 Danforth from Danforth Avenue to Kennedy Road and the 16 McCowan from Eglinton Avenue to Lawrence Avenue, just before it becomes McCowan Road.^[1]

Kingston Road

Kingston Road is the southernmost major road along the eastern portion of Toronto, specifically in the district of Scarborough. Until 1997, it formed a portion of Highway 2.^[2] The name of the street is derived from Kingston, Ontario, as the road was the primary route used to travel from Toronto to the settlements east of it situated along the northern shores of Lake Ontario; in the west end of Kingston, this highway was referred to as the York Road (referring to the former name of Toronto) until at least 1908. Due to its diagonal course near the shore of Lake Ontario, the street is the terminus of many arterial roads in eastern Toronto, both east–west and north–south, with a few continuing for a short distance after as minor residential streets. However, Lawrence Avenue and Morningside Avenue continue as minor arterials for considerable distances beyond it to the mouth of the Rouge River in West Rouge and Guildwood Parkway, respectively.

Kingston Road is served by Toronto Transit Commission routes 503, 12, 102/902, 86/986 and 905.^[1]

Rexdale Boulevard

Rexdale Boulevard

Location	Islington Avenue – Highway 427

Rexdale Boulevard is a short east–west roadway in Rexdale, a neighbourhood in Toronto, and begins as a spur road off Islington Avenue just north of Highway 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 Boulevard becomes Derry Road and enters the city of Mississauga. Derry Road 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 as a whole. Derry Road is the northern boundary of Toronto Pearson International Airport. The intersection of Derry Road and Airport Road was once the site of Malton, itself a part of Mississauga. West of the intersection with Mavis Road, the road makes a large arc around the former village of Meadowvale. The bypassed stretch was renamed 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 Street and Derry Road intersection.^[3] Derry West was named after Derry 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).

The street is served by TTC bus route 37A, a branch of 37 Islington.^[1]

Collector roads

Chaplin Crescent

Chaplin Crescent

Length	2.5 km (1.6 mi)
Location	Briar Hill Avenue–Yonge Street and Davisville Avenue

Chaplin Crescent is a diagonal street located in Toronto, Ontario. The street runs almost entirely just north and east of the Kay Gardner Beltline Park, a former railway meant to serve the community of Forest Hill (as well as Fairbank and Briar Hill-Belgravia to the west), and primarily runs parallel to it. The street has several parks by it: Castlefield Parkette, Forest Hill Memorial Park, Robert Bateman Parkette, Larratt Parkette, and Oriole Park.^[4] At the southeast end of the street where it crosses Yonge Street over Davisville station and Line 1's Davisville Yard, it becomes Davisville Avenue.^[5]

Chaplin Crescent from Roselawn Avenue to Yonge Street is served by TTC route 14 Glencairn.^[1] Chaplin station on Line 5 Eglinton is scheduled to open in the second half of 2024 with the rest of the line's first phase.^[6]

Northeast corner of Chaplin Crescent and Eglinton Avenue West from 2015 to 2023

2015: The two-storey mixed-use building formerly housing a Coffee Time coffeeshop pre-demolition
2022: Main entrance of Chaplin station
2023: Main entrance of Chaplin station

Dawes Road

Dawes Road

Location	South of Danforth Avenue – Pharmacy Avenue

Dawes Road is a spur of Victoria Park Avenue, and the original roadway through the Taylor-Massey Creek ravine. The road is named for Clem Dawes, a farmer on Lot 2 Concession 2 of York Township and later hotel owner.^[7] The street between Victoria Park Avenue and Pharmacy Avenue is an east–west road running just south of St. Clair Avenue. There is a 50-metre (160 ft) gap between the east–west Dawes Road and the diagonal Dawes Road along Victoria Park Avenue.

Dawes Road is served by TTC route 23 Dawes.^[1]

Trethewey Drive

Trethewey Drive

Location	Eglinton Avenue (continues as Keele Street) to Jane Street

Trethewey Drive, formerly named Holmstead Drive, was a private rural road on the land of mining magnate and owner of the Trethewey Model Farm William Griffith Trethewey (1865–1926).^[8] 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's facilities and the Royal Canadian Air Force before the land was sold for development in 1941.^[9]^[10] The boroughs of North York and York later assumed control of the road.

The street is served by TTC route 32C Eglinton West (a branch of 32 Eglinton West), which was once part of the former route 83 until 1972 and will be served by TTC route 158 in the second half of 2024 after the first phase of Line 5 Eglinton is opened for revenue service.^[1]^[11]

Vaughan Road

Vaughan Road

Location	Bathurst Street – near the intersection of Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue

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 newly independent United States during the drafting of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The street's original alignment led to the namesake township until the street was shortened. The neighbourhood of Oakwood–Vaughan (later officially renamed Oakwood Village for the main commercial strip on Oakwood Avenue at Rogers Road), as well as the former high school Vaughan Road Academy, are named after this street. Vaughan Road's contour is the result of it being parallel to the buried Castle Frank Brook to the northeast.

Vaughan Road is served by TTC bus route 90.^[1] There is a southbound streetcar track on the road south of St. Clair Avenue to allow 512 St. Clair streetcars to use the depots located closer to the lakeshore by the rest of the TTC streetcar system as the 512 St. Clair streetcar route is otherwise disconnected from the rest of the system. Bathurst Street from Vaughan Road to St. Clair Avenue only has a northbound streetcar track.

Related Research Articles

North Toronto is a former town and informal district located in the northern part of the Old Toronto district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Currently occupying a geographically central location within the city of Toronto, the Town of North Toronto was incorporated in 1890, when much of the area was still farmland, and annexed by Toronto in 1912. The name is still used to refer to the area in general, although Yonge–Eglinton and Midtown Toronto are officially used.

Line 1 Yonge–University is a rapid transit line of the Toronto subway. It serves Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, has 38 stations and is 38.4 km (23.9 mi) in length, making it the longest line on the subway system. It opened as the "Yonge subway" in 1954 as Canada's first underground passenger rail line and was extended multiple times between 1963 and 2017. Averaging over 670,000 riders per weekday, Line 1 is the busiest rapid transit line in Canada, and one of the busiest lines in North America.

St. Clair Avenue is a major east-west street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was laid out in the late 18th century by the British as a concession road, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of Bloor Street and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of Queen Street.

St. Clair is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The station opened in 1954 as part of the original Yonge Street subway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto Civic Railways</span> Streetcar operator in Toronto, Canada, from 1912 to 1921

Toronto Civic Railways (TCR) was a streetcar operator created and owned by the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to serve newly annexed areas of the city that the private operator Toronto Railway Company refused to serve. When the Toronto Railway Company's franchise expired in 1921, its services were combined with those of the Toronto Civic Railways, and are now assumed by the new Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC). The first route of the TCR started operation on December 18, 1912.

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 cities and boroughs of Metropolitan Toronto.

Bathurst Street is a main north–south thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It begins at an intersection of the Queens Quay roadway, just north of the Lake Ontario shoreline. It continues north through Toronto to the Toronto boundary at Steeles Avenue. It is a four-lane thoroughfare throughout Toronto. The roadway continues north into York Region where it is known as York Regional Road 38.

Weston Road is both a contour street and a north–south street in western Toronto and western York Region in Ontario, Canada. The road is named for the former Village of Weston, which was located near Weston Road and Lawrence Avenue West, in the present-day neighbourhood of Weston.

Kingston Road is a major arterial road in Toronto and Durham Region, Ontario. It is the southernmost major (mainly) east-west road in the eastern portion of Toronto, specifically in the district of Scarborough, and runs east to Ajax in Durham. Until 1998, it formed a portion of Highway 2. The name of the street is derived from Kingston, Ontario as the road was the primary route used to travel from Toronto to the settlements east of it situated along the shores of Lake Ontario; in the west end of Kingston, the road was referred to as the York Road until at least 1908, and is today named Princess Street.

Black Creek Drive is an expressway or arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A four-lane route that runs north–south, it connects Weston Road and Humber Boulevard with Highway 401 via Highway 400, the latter of which it forms a southerly extension. Black Creek Drive officially transitions into Highway 400 at the Maple Leaf Drive overpass, southeast of the Jane Street interchange. The roadway is named after the Black Creek ravine, which it parallels for most of its route. It features a maximum speed limit of 70 km/h (43 mph). As part of the municipal system of expressways, it is patrolled by the Toronto Police Service.

Keele Street is a north–south road in Toronto, Vaughan and King in Ontario, Canada. It stretches 47 kilometres (29 mi), running from Bloor Street in Toronto to the Holland Marsh. South of Bloor Street, the roadway is today known as Parkside Drive, but was originally part of Keele Street. It was renamed in 1921 by the City of Toronto.

Dufferin Street is a major north–south street in Toronto, Vaughan and King, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, two concessions (4 km) west of Yonge Street. The street starts at Exhibition Place, continues north to Toronto's northern boundary at Steeles Avenue with some discontinuities and continues into Vaughan, where it is designated York Regional Road 53. The street is named for Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, who served as Governor General of Canada from 1872 to 1878. Prior to 1878 the street was labelled as Western City Limits or Sideline Road south off Bloor. In 2003 and 2007, it was voted as one of "Ontario's Worst 20 Roads" in the Ontario's Worst Roads poll organized by the Canadian Automobile Association.

The 512 St. Clair is an east–west streetcar route in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It operates on St. Clair Avenue between St. Clair station on the Line 1 Yonge–University subway and Gunns Road, just west of Keele Street.

Vaughan Road is a road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a contour collector road that is parallel to a buried creek to the north called Castle Frank Brook. Vaughan Road begins on Bathurst Street south of St. Clair Avenue West, then it becomes a north–south street, hence its address numbering system, then it becomes a northwest–southeast street. Finally, Vaughan Road ends in a dead-end near Fairbank station at the intersection of Eglinton Avenue and Dufferin Street. Vaughan Road Academy is named after this road.

The Jane LRT is an inactive proposal for a light rail line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was originally proposed in 2007, cancelled in 2010, and later revived in the 2013 "Feeling Congested?" report by the City of Toronto, where it was labelled as a "Future Transit Project". However, in April 2019, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the province's plans for rapid transit development and funding for the Greater Toronto Area that omitted the Jane LRT.

Jane Street is a major north-south thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 5th concession west of Yonge Street, the road begins at Bloor Street and continues north into York Region, before ending in the Holland Marsh in King Township. The street passes through several neighbourhoods and landmarks; such as Bloor West Village, Jane and Finch, Vaughan Mills, and Canada's Wonderland. Jane Street is one of the most congested roads in the Greater Toronto Area, with the Toronto Transit Commission bus routes serving the street being among the system's busiest.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "TTC System Map February 2024" (PDF). TTC. 18 February 2024. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 February 2024.
↑ "Ontario Highway 2 History - The King's Highways of Ontario". www.thekingshighway.ca. Retrieved 2023-05-25.
↑ Lange Astrid (Sep 12, 2014). "Derry Road name for 'lost village' of Derry West: Street names". Toronto Star. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
↑ Toronto, City of (2017-03-06). "Parks Map". City of Toronto. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
↑ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
↑ Ranger, Michael (May 16, 2023). "Eglinton Crosstown won't open until 2024, construction group to take legal action: Metrolinx". CityNews. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
↑ Milanich, Melanie (February 14, 2011). "Dawes Road: a Shortcut to the Market and a Natural Resource Base" (PDF). Retrieved March 21, 2022.
↑ "Old Time Trains".
↑ Filey, Mike. "The forgotten Trethewey Air Field". Toronto Sun . No. 9 July 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
↑ "Trethewey Drive: Street names - Toronto Star". thestar.com. 24 August 2012.
↑ "Changes to TTC Bus Routes in Eglinton Corridor for Line 5 Rapid Transit Line" (PDF). TTC. TTC Board. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2018.

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[:0-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "TTC System Map February 2024" (PDF). TTC. 18 February 2024. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 February 2024.

[2] "Ontario Highway 2 History - The King's Highways of Ontario". www.thekingshighway.ca. Retrieved 2023-05-25.

[3] Lange Astrid (Sep 12, 2014). "Derry Road name for 'lost village' of Derry West: Street names". Toronto Star. Retrieved 14 September 2014.

[4] Toronto, City of (2017-03-06). "Parks Map". City of Toronto. Retrieved 2017-12-12.

[5] "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 2017-12-12.

[CityNews-2023-05-16-6] Ranger, Michael (May 16, 2023). "Eglinton Crosstown won't open until 2024, construction group to take legal action: Metrolinx". CityNews. Retrieved May 16, 2023.

[7] Milanich, Melanie (February 14, 2011). "Dawes Road: a Shortcut to the Market and a Natural Resource Base" (PDF). Retrieved March 21, 2022.

[8] "Old Time Trains".

[9] Filey, Mike. "The forgotten Trethewey Air Field". Toronto Sun . No. 9 July 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.

[10] "Trethewey Drive: Street names - Toronto Star". thestar.com. 24 August 2012.

[line_5_future-11] "Changes to TTC Bus Routes in Eglinton Corridor for Line 5 Rapid Transit Line" (PDF). TTC. TTC Board. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2018.

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