York Regional Road 1

Infobox road
marker_

highway_name=York Regional Road 1
alternate_name=Yonge Street


length_km=39
established=1793
direction_a=South
starting_terminus=Steeles Avenue
direction_b=North
ending_terminus=York Region / Simcoe County Boundary
counties=York Region
cities=Markham
Vaughan
Richmond Hill
Aurora
Newmarket
East Gwillimbury

York Regional Road 1, or Yonge Street (pronounced as 'Young'), is a major north-south road in York Region, Ontario.

Road information

* Locally referred to as: Yonge Street
* Municipalities: Markham, Richmond Hill, Aurora, and Newmarket (Please note: Although the portion of Yonge Street from Steeles Avenue to Highway 7 is straddled on the Markham-Vaughan border, it is geographically in Markham, therefore, Yonge Street is technically not in Vaughan.)
* Length: 39km
* Transportation: Mainly Viva Blue, YRT Route 99 (From Finch Terminal to Bernard Terminal), and YRT Route 98 (From Bernard Terminal to Newmarket Terminal)
* Attractions: Ladies Golf Club Toronto, Thornhill Country Club, Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Richmond Hill Centre Terminal, York Region Transit Headquarters (walking distance required), Hillcrest Mall, Bernard Transit Terminal, Summit Golf and Country Club, Bond Lake, Beacon Hall Golf Club, Aurora Cemetery, Aurora War Memorial Peace Park, Highland Gate Golf Club, York Region Headquarters, Upper Canada Mall
*Road status: A 6-lane road from Steeles Avenue to Elgin Mills Road, and 4 lanes northward to the end of its York regional road status.
*Zoning: A very large range of buildings, mainly residential in north Richmond Hill to Newmarket, commercial in Markham, high-density residential along border with Vaughan, and mainly empty farmland north of Newmarket into Holland Landing.
*Additional information: Previously considered the longest street in the world, York Regional Road 1, or locally, Yonge Street, was formerly Highway 11.

History

Yonge Street was originally a military trail linking Lake Ontario with the northern Great Lakes. For this reason, it is unusually long and straight. It was founded by John Graves Simcoe, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1793.

Simcoe chose its beginning and end points based on a historical trail created by Huron Indians. The trail was used by numerous European explorers, such as Samuel de Champlain in 1615. Simcoe named the street after Sir George Yonge, the British Secretary of War at the time.

Because of fears of U.S. aggression, Simcoe wanted to move the capital of Upper Canada from Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) to a more defensible position. He chose Yonge Street to be the site of the new capital. Hence, Yonge Street became the first street of the city that would become Toronto.

Yonge Street was fundamental in the planning and layout of Toronto and Ontario. It was used as the basis for concession roads in Ontario. It was the site of Toronto's first subway line. It also serves as the dividing line between the east and west parts of east–west roads in Toronto and York Region. (Yonge is the zero-numbering point for those east–west streets; building numbers on such streets increase as one moves further away from Yonge.)

Evolution of Yonge Street

John Graves Simcoe used the Queen's Rangers to survey and build the road and established lots along it so that settlers would further clear and improve it. By the early part of the 19th century, Yonge Street ran from Lake Ontario to Holland Landing, providing a link between the lower and upper Great Lakes through Holland River and Lake Simcoe. Yonge Street became the baseline around which the other concession lines of York County were drawn. The lot numbers on this street reach into the 21000s.

In the 1920s, looking to support the rapidly developing mining and agricultural communities in northern Ontario, the government of Ontario sought to connect these communities to the south by commissioning a highway between North Bay and Cochrane. After construction crews pushed through the dense Temagami forest, the road was officially opened on July 2, 1927, and named the Ferguson Highway after the Hon. G. Howard Ferguson, the premier of Ontario and longtime supporter of northern development. The Ferguson Highway, as well as other roads leading to Barrie and Yonge Street itself were incorporated into Highway 11 in the 1930s.

Description

Public transit

Other minor routes on York Regional Road 1 are YRT Routes 5, 23, 31, 44, 84, and 89

Major roads/highways that cross Yonge Street

"(From south to north)"
* Steeles Avenue, marks the beginning of York Regional Road 1
* (John Street)
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ee also

* List of York Regional Roads
* Yonge Street, Toronto portion

References

* [http://www.google.ca/maps Google Maps]