Ontario Highway 11A

King's Highway 11A, commonly referred to as Highway 11A, was the highway designation for an alternate route of Highway 11 in the Canadian province of Ontario. The north-south route within Toronto paralleled Yonge Street and served as a secondary access to Downtown Toronto. It began at Highway 2 (Gardiner Expressway) and travelled north on York Street to Front Street, where it transitioned to University Avenue. It continued north on University Avenue to Queen's Park, where Highway 11A followed Queen's Park Crescent, encircling the Ontario Legislative Building, before continuing north along Avenue Road. Highway 11A travelled along Avenue Road to Upper Canada College. It followed Lonsdale Road, Oriole Parkway, and Oxton Avenue around the campus back to Avenue Road, which resumes north of the school. It continued north along Avenue Road to Highway 401, where it ended.[1]

Highway 11A
Route information
Auxiliary route of Highway 11
Maintained by City of Toronto
Length	12.1 km (7.5 mi)
Existed	1929–present
Major junctions
South end	Highway 2 (Gardiner Expressway) in Downtown Toronto
	Highway 5 (Bloor Street) in Yorkville
North end	Highway 401
Location
Major cities	Toronto
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways List 400-series Former ← Highway 11 → Highway 11B

Route description

University Avenue

University Avenue begins at the intersection of Front and York streets near Union Station and heads northwest for a short distance before turning north. Lanes on the left ends as ramp to underground parking garage. At Adelaide Street West, the avenue divides slightly, leaving room for a median of greenery and sculptures between the north and southbound lanes. Southbound University runs diagonally to meet with York Street at Front Street West then continues south as York Street to Queens Quay and ends as a driveway signed as Harbour Square.

The avenue ends at College Street, where it splits into Queen's Park Crescent East (northbound) and Queen's Park Crescent West (southbound). Between these two roads is Queen's Park, the home of the Ontario Legislative Building. This landmark creates a terminating vista for those looking north along University. The legislature's site was originally home to the main building of the University of Toronto, and this is the origin of the avenue's name. Today, the university surrounds the legislature building. Queen's Park Crescent is a single street north to Bloor Street.

Avenue Road

Avenue Road is the western limit of the former town of Yorkville. At its southern terminus, it runs between two of Toronto's major hotels, the Park Hyatt (on the northwest corner of Bloor and Avenue Road) and the Four Seasons Hotel. On the northeast corner of the intersection with Bloor is the Church of the Redeemer. For much of its length the road is fairly residential, with a mix of small businesses, as well as a few large schools and churches. A notable site along this "lower section" is the Hare Krishna Temple, formerly the Avenue Road Church, opposite Dupont Street and across the street from the Anglican Church of The Messiah. Just north of St. Clair Avenue, Avenue Road is interrupted by Upper Canada College, ending at Lonsdale Road and resuming again at Kilbarry Road. The primary traffic route runs east of the school, following widened sections of Lonsdale Road and Oriole Parkway and returning to Avenue Road via Oxton Avenue.[2]

North of Eglinton Avenue, the former St. James-Bond Church once stood. This building, which used to house two prime downtown congregations – St. James Square (formerly Presbyterian), and Bond Street (formerly Congregationalist) – was built in the late 1920s, and closed in June 2005. It has since been demolished. Near Lawrence Avenue is Havergal College, a large private girls' school. Although in the former city of North York, much of the area considers the school part of North Toronto. Avenue Road ends at Bombay Avenue, just after crossing Highway 401 (exit 367).[2] Originally, Avenue Road continued from what is now the interchange by angling northeast via the Hogg's Hollow Bridge (across the Don River West Branch) to end at Yonge Street; this section of the road was incorporated into Highway 401 when it was constructed in the 1950s.

References

Sources

1. Ministry of Transportation; Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation. Ontario Official Road Map (Map) (1994-1995 ed.). Province of Ontario. Metropolitan Toronto inset.
2. Toronto Pocket Street Atlas, MapArt Publishing, 2000

Bibliography

• Shragge, John; Bagnato, Sharon, eds. (1984). From Footpaths to Freeways. Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Historical Committee. ISBN 0-7743-9388-2.