Kingston Road (Toronto)
East end | Lake Ridge Road (Continues as Dundas Street into Whitby) |
---|
Kingston Road is a major arterial road in
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 continues as a major arterial for a considerable distance beyond it.
The road no longer bears the name "Kingston Road" anywhere east of Ajax, and thus has effectively been dramatically shortened from its original length. This is in contrast to other long-distance historic "streets" such as Dundas Street, which runs from Toronto to London and still carries that name in the latter city and in many points in between.
History
American engineer Asa Danforth Jr. was contracted to build a road as a route to connect Toronto (then called York) with the mouth of the Trent River in 1799 at a cost of $90.00 per mile. The road, known as The Scarborough Front Road, was completed by December 18, 1800, but was poorly maintained thereafter. In 1815 the Kingston Road was surveyed and it followed the line, in many cases, of the former road laid out by Asa Danforth as far as the Trent River. Beyond that point, the two historic roads diverge. The Kingston Road was completed in 1817, serving as a post road for stagecoaches delivering mail.
Route description
Until Highway 401 was constructed, Kingston Road was the principal route from Toronto to points east. Accordingly, it became the site of numerous inns and motels, many of which still dot the road, particularly in Scarborough. Now some of these inns are being demolished to make way for townhouse developments. Kingston Road is a six-lane principal arterial road through most of Scarborough aside from a brief two-lane segment between Lawson Road and Highway 401, narrowing from six to four lanes as it crosses into Durham. It has a 60 km/h (37 mph) speed limit for the most part.
The southwesternmost section in the
The Toronto section runs from
To preserve the historic village of
Kingston Road has six lanes west of the interchange with Lawson Road as well as east of Highway 401, however there is a discontinuity and a large reduction in capacity to two lanes as Kingston Road reverts to the original alignment (as well as reuniting with Old Kingston Road) at an off-ramp at the Lawson Road interchange, since mainline traffic is instead defaulted onto
Public Transit
History
Kingston Road Tramway
From 1875 to 1887 Kingston Road Tramway ran horsecars from Don Rver (Don Bridge - now
The single track route had three major stops (Don Bridge, Woodbine, Ben Lamond Hotel at Main Street and Scarboro Heights Hotel at Blantyre Avenue) running 12 times daily and 13 on Saturday in summer. The route ceased operation in 1887.Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company
The Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company inaugurated a single-track
114 Kingston road bus
From 1980 to 1990, with the opening of Kennedy station, the 114 Kingston Road East bus route served Kingston Road running from Warden Station to Markham Road with another branch running to Lawrence Avenue and Beechgrove Drive. It was replaced by the 12 Kingston road and 102 Markham road[5]
Present day public transit
In Toronto, west of Victoria Park, the street is served by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), which operates a streetcar service (503 Kingston Rd) route. East of Victoria Park Avenue, the main route is the 12 Kingston being the main service until Brimley, with the 12D operating during some periods east to Morningside. The 102 and 86 operate for the majority of where 12D operates all day, and the 86 continues east of Morningside to Meadowvale. In Durham, Kingston Road is served by Durham Region Transit's (DRT) Pulse bus rapid transit and GO Transit, which both operate routes, originating in Toronto, with duplicate routing (although routing and termini are separate within Toronto) along it.
In 2020, bus lanes were install from Eglinton to Morningside as part of the Eglinton East RapidTo bus lanes project.[6]
The routes that primarily serve the street are:
Toronto (TTC):
Route | Direction and Termini | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
503
|
Kingston Rd[7] | WB | To Spadina Avenue via King Street |
EB | To Victoria Park Avenue (Bingham Loop) |
12
|
Kingston Rd[8] | WB | To Victoria Park Subway Station via Victoria Park Avenue |
EB | To U of T Scarborough (D branch)(All branches serve west of Brimley) |
102
|
Markham Rd[9] | WB | To Warden Subway Station
via St. Clair Avenue |
EB | To All branches serve Kingston Rd. as far east as Markham Road before turning off then head north
|
86
|
Scarborough[10] | WB | To Kennedy Subway Station
via Eglinton Avenue |
EB | Branches A and C serve Kingston Rd To Meadowvale Road before turning off(B to Lawson and D to Lawence)
|
986
|
Scarborough Express[11] | To Kennedy Subway Station
via Eglinton Avenue |
To Meadowvale Road |
Durham Region (DRT) and GO Transit:
Route | Direction and Termini | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
900
|
Highway 2[12][13] | WB | To Ellesmere Road
|
EB | To Mary Street in Oshawa via Dundas and King/Bond Streets |
Route | Direction and Termini | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
92+
|
Oshawa/Yorkdale[14] | WB | To Yorkdale Bus Terminal via Highway 401 |
EB | To Oshawa Bus Terminal (main route) via Dundas and King/Bond Streets To Dundas St. @ Hwy 412 Park & Ride (A branch; weekday rush hours only) |
See also
References
- ^ "Kingston Road route". Google Maps. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
- ^ Brown p. 105
- ^ "The Scarboro' Heights Hotel Co. … intend opening the hotel on the heights 4 miles east of Toronto and just east of Norway on "Balmy Beach" property on Dominion Day, 1st July, 1879". Ephemera, 1879, English. Toronto Public Library. 1879. Retrieved 2020-11-11. Reference page at the Toronto Public Library.
- ^ a b c "Kingston Road – Toronto's gateway for over 200 years". beachesliving.ca. The Beaches Living Guide. Fall 2013. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
- ^ "114 Kingston Road East (1980-1990) - Transit Toronto - Surface Route Histories". transittoronto.ca. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
- ^ "RapidTO: Eglinton East Bus Lanes". City of Toronto. 2020-10-06. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
- ^ "TTC website 503".
- ^ "TTC website 12".
- ^ "TTC web 102".
- ^ "TTC website 86".
- ^ "TTC website 986".
- ^ "DRT South Durham Map" (PDF). Durham Region Transit. Region of Durham. 2020-09-28. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
- ^ "900 PULSE - Highway 2" (PDF). Durham Region Transit. Region of Durham. 2020-09-28. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Route Number 92 Oshawa/Yorkdale" (PDF). GO Transit. 2020-04-04. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-10-31. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
- Bibliography
- Brown, Ron (1997). Toronto's Lost Villages. Polar Bear Press. ISBN 1-896757-02-2.