Dufferin Street is a major north-south street in Toronto and York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 2 concessions (4km) west of Yonge Street. The street starts at the foot of Lake Ontario and continues north to Toronto's northern boundary with some discontinuities. 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. 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 CAA.[1][2]
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Route
- Lake to Queen Street section
The southern end of Dufferin is within the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) grounds at Dufferin Gates. North of the CNE, the east side is dominated by industrial or transitional industrial to residential buildings of Liberty Village. The west side is mostly single-family homes with one apartment building south of King Street. The neighbourhood to the west is named Parkdale. This area was developed mostly before 1900. Immediately north of Queen Street West, Dufferin is cut off by the railway (nicknamed the "Dufferin jog" by locals) and resumes before Peel Avenue.
- Queen Street to Eglinton Avenue section
North of Queen Street, Dufferin is primarily residential on both sides, with the large Dufferin Mall on the west side of Dufferin, south of Bloor Street. The neighbourhood is known as Dufferin Grove, after the park on the east side of Dufferin. Dufferin subway station is located at Dufferin and Bloor Street on the Bloor-Danforth line. From Bloor Street to Eglinton Avenue, Dufferin is lined with homes built from the 1920s to post-World War II, and traverses very steep hills.
- Eglinton to Downsview section
North of Eglinton, it becomes an six-lane arterial road through industrial and low-density commercial lands of the former North York. The regional shopping centre of Yorkdale Shopping Centre is located at Dufferin and Highway 401.
- North of Wilson Avenue section
North of Wilson Avenue, Dufferin is interrupted by Downsview Airport and Allen Road, the latter of which feeds Dufferin north of Kennard Avenue (formerly Wilson Heights Boulevard). North of Steeles Avenue, Dufferin Street continues into Vaughan and is also known as York Regional Road 53, crossing Davis Drive (Hwy 9) into Glenville Road, then continuing north before ending just north of Graham Sideroad in King.
A broken section of Dufferin Street runs semi parallel with Allen Road from Kennard to Sheppard Avenue due east. This section is a residential street and ends in a cul-de-sac just south of Kennard. A lost section of Dufferin Street south of Sheppard Avenue is now within Downsview subway station.
Dufferin Jog
The intersection of Dufferin Street and Queen Street West also intersects with the main railway line from downtown to the northwest. While an underpass was built under Queen Street, an underpass was not built for Dufferin Street and a short section from Queen north to Peel Street was closed. The intersecting streets of Peel and Gladstone became 'de facto' sections of Dufferin and the detour is known locally as the Dufferin Jog.
The City of Toronto has on numerous occasions examined the idea of building an underpass for Dufferin Street and rejected building, finally approving the project in 2007. Work on extending the roadway began on July 2009.[3] The project will extend Dufferin Street four lanes wide under the rail lines and will be decorated with public art.
Italian community
Dufferin Street has long been an important thoroughfare for Toronto's Italian community. An Italian neighbourhood developed around Dufferin and Davenport in the 1890s and soon became known as "little Little Italy". In the 1950s, Italian Canadians from the main Little Italy around College Street and Grace Street headed northwest up Dufferin past St. Clair Avenue and were joined by a new wave of immigrants from Italy. By the 1960s, the Dufferin-St. Clair area (known as Corso Italia) had supplanted College-Grace Little Italy as the centre of Toronto's Italian community.
Public Transit usage
The 29 Dufferin bus route runs from the lake shore along the full length of Dufferin to the Wilson Station. When the CNE is not operating, the Dufferin bus continues south within Exhibition Place to the Bathurst streetcar loop. The bus connects with the Toronto Bloor-Danforth Subway at Dufferin Station and the Wilson Station is on the Yonge-University-Spadina line.
The 105 Dufferin North bus route runs north from Downsview Station on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line along Allen Road and Dufferin Street. North of Steeles Avenue, it effectively becomes a York Region Transit route, and additional YRT fares apply.[4]
References
- ^ "Ontario's worst municipal roads – top 20" (PDF). Canadian Automobile Association. 2007. http://www.worstroads.ca/inc/db2file.asp?fileid=4. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
- ^ "Top 20 Worst Municipal Roads in Ontario for 2007". Canadian Automobile Association. 2007. http://www.worstroads.ca/rankings/roadfinal.asp. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
- ^ Mackenzie, Robert (2009-07-15). "Dufferin / Queen construction affects transit service this weekend". Transit Toronto. http://transit.toronto.on.ca/archives/weblog/2009/07/15-dufferin_q.shtml. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "105 Dufferin North" Toronto Transit Commission: http://www3.ttc.ca/Routes/105/Northbound.jsp
External links
Google Maps of Dufferin Street
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