Leslie Street

Leslie Street is a north-south route in Toronto and York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is distinctive because of its four unconnected segments.

In Toronto, it begins at Lake Ontario at the foot of the Leslie Street Spit, so named because this is the most southerly point of Leslie Street. Just north at Lake Shore Blvd. East was the former eastern terminus of the Gardiner Expressway. Leslie Street continues north to the railway tracks north of Gerrard Street East, where the first segment ends. Donlands Avenue was originally a segment of Leslie Street.

The second segment is represented by a one-block stretch of road between Wicksteed Avenue and Vanderhoof Avenue in the Leaside Industrial land area. It is separated from the third segment by the Ernest Thompson Seton parklands.

The third segment begins as a principal arterial road at Eglinton Avenue at the E.T. Seton/Wilket Creek Park area and continues north through residential neighbourhoods in Don Mills and the Don Valley. A proposed extension from Eglinton Avenue to the Don Valley Parkway was shelved in 1995. The street numbers change erratically near Highway 401, going from the 4400 block at Sheppard Avenue to the 2000 block under the Canadian National Railway tracks in a short distance. It exits Toronto and enters York Region at Steeles Avenue, west of Don Mills Road. Leslie is reduced to a local road at Steeles Avenue and ends shortly thereafter in Wycliffe Park.

The fourth segment continues as an arterial road north of John Street when Don Mills Road turns into Leslie Street. This segment follows the same direction and alignment as the Toronto section. There is a small jog in the road at Stouffville Road in Richmond Hill, and two sets of lights were installed in the summer of 2006 to ease the morning traffic congestion. Leslie extends many kilometres northward to the town of Keswick where it is renamed The Queensway South.

The stretch in York Region is also designated as York Regional Road 12.

On February 1, 2008 an abandoned baby girl was named Angelica-Leslie by the Toronto Children's Aid Society; her name was chosen because of her cherubic face, and to reflect the circumstance of her being found the previous day in the outdoor stairwell of a Leslie Street and Finch Avenue shopping mall. [Toronto Star, 'Mystery 8-month-old thriving in foster care' (Feb. 1, 2008) [http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/299623] ] [The Globe and Mail, 'Baby Angelica-Leslie named ward of the Crown' (Jul. 14, 2008) [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080714.wbaby0714/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080714.wbaby0714] ]

Attractions

* Leslie Spit and Tommy Thompson Park
* Sunnybrook Park
* Inn on the Park
* Edwards Gardens
* Leslie Station (Sheppard Subway) and Oriole GO Station
* North York General Hospital (North of Highway 401)
* Old Cummer GO Station

References

External links

*Google Maps of Leslie Street
** [http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=Eglinton+Ave+E+%26+Leslie+St+North+York,+ON&daddr=Steeles+Ave+E+%26+Leslie+St+ON&mrcr=0&mra=pe&sll=43.76277,-79.360625&sspn=0.10414,0.233459&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1 North section]
** [http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=Leslie+St+%26+Unwin+Ave+Toronto,+ON&daddr=Leslie+St+%4043.672740,+-79.334430&mrcr=0&mra=pe&sll=43.662555,-79.328675&sspn=0.026078,0.058365&ie=UTF8&z=14&om=1 South section]