Kingston Road (Toronto)

Kingston Road (originally "The Kingston Road") was built by American engineer Asa Danforth as a route to connect Toronto (then called York) with Kingston, Ontario. The name of the street is derived from the route to Kingston, Ontario (also known as Governor's Road), then the primary settlement in the colony. It is one of the main arterial roads in the eastern part of Toronto.

The Toronto section runs from Queen Street East, joining with Eastern Avenue, just west of Woodbine Avenue (route to Lake Shore Boulevard) through Scarborough to Toronto's eastern city limits with Durham Region, where it continues as Durham Regional Highway 2.

The road was once part of Highway 2, but provincial downloading in the late 1990s meant that the road is now just a local route called Kingston Road.

A small portion of road parallel to Kingston Road is called Old Kingston Road running near the Highland Creek, east of Morningside Avenue. The road reverts to the original route, at the junction with the former Highway 2A, (as well as Military Trail).

The initial sections in the Beaches area take the form of a historic urban arterial road with extensive storefronts and pedestrian traffic. The TTC's 502 Downtowner and 503 Kingston Road streetcars run along Kingston Road during the daytime on weekdays (evening, weekend and holiday service is provided by buses). The speed limit in that section is 50 km/h (30 mph).

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 still a fast route to go from Scarborough to The Beaches, being a six-lane principal arterial road through most of Scarborough, with a 60 km/h (40 mph) speed limit for the most part.

ee also

* Highway 401
* Highway 2
* Highway 2A