The Queensway (or Queensway) is a major street in the municipalities of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
and
Mississauga
Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popu ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. It is a western continuation of
Queen Street, after it crosses
Roncesvalles Avenue
Roncesvalles Avenue is a north–south minor arterial street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It begins at the intersection of Queen Street West, King Street West and the Queensway running north to Dundas Street West. At its southern starting poi ...
and
King Street in Toronto. The Queensway is a
divided roadway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
from Roncevalles westerly until 600 metres of the South Kingsway (accessed by ramps) with its centre median dedicated to
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
service. The road continues undivided west from there to
Etobicoke Creek as a four- or six-lane thoroughfare.
After crossing the creek, it enters Mississauga under
Peel Region jurisdiction as
Peel Regional Road 20, as far west as Mavis Road, with the westernmost portion to Glengarry Road being maintained by the city. There is a road allowance with hydro lines, cutting into the
Mississaugua Golf & Country Club on the shores of the
Credit River
The Credit River is a river in southern Ontario, which flows from headwaters above the Niagara Escarpment near Orangeville and Caledon East to empty into Lake Ontario at Port Credit, Mississauga. It drains an area of approximately . The total le ...
. In the 1990s, the name Queensway was eliminated on the roads on this allowance west of the river. The street gives its name to
Etobicoke
Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...
's
the Queensway neighbourhood.
Etymology
The Queensway in Toronto was once named Queen Street and was officially the western part of the street in
Old Toronto
Old Toronto is that part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that corresponds to the original City of Toronto which existed from 1834 to 1998. It was first incorporated as a city in 1834, after being known as the town of York, and being part of York Co ...
. There were three separate portions: the easternmost being a stub of the main section of Queen that continued west of Roncesvalles Avenue to Colborne Lodge Drive; a central section separated from it by a swampy area south of Grenadier Pond in
High Park, running west of Ellis Avenue; and the westernmost running through the former Etobicoke west of the Humber River. The section west of the Humber was named the Queensway in 1947 to avoid confusion due to the break, but the name "Queen Street" was not restored after the present Queensway was completed to connect the sections of the formerly broken street. The most likely reason for this was because the Borough of Etobicoke desired a counterpart, the Kingsway.
In Mississauga, the road is simply named "Queensway", with east and west designations on either side of
Hurontario Street: ''Queensway East'' and ''Queensway West''
From 1953 to 1954, the Queensway was signed briefly as
Ontario Highway 108 when it was under the-then
Department of Highways from Highway 27 (prior to being renamed Highway 427) and the eastern end of the Queen Elizabeth Way.
For
Highway 427's southbound express and collector carriageways, overhead exit signs formerly showed the Queensway as "Queensway Avenue", while present signs use the proper designation. It is unclear as to why the older signs used Queensway Avenue, but it was likely to avoid confusion with adjacent exit signs for the parallel
Queen Elizabeth Way
The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western ...
(QEW) at the last collector-to-express transfer (and vice-versa), as after that point, the collector lanes had an off-ramp to the Queensway but no direct access to the QEW (with the express lanes being the opposite). In 2001, the collector lanes received a ramp to access the eastern QEW; nonetheless, there was no longer any need for the Queensway Avenue signage as the eastern QEW was re-designated the Gardiner Expressway as a result of 1998 provincial downloading. The old Queensway Avenue signage was still present mixed with the proper signs for a time after the downloading.
History
What would become the Queensway in Mississauga was formerly the Upper Middle Road (or the 1st Concession South of Dundas Street).
The section between Roncesvalles and the
Humber River was built in the 1950s, in conjunction with the construction of the
Gardiner Expressway
The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends ...
. The Queensway was built before the Gardiner Expressway to provide an east–west route for traffic while
Lake Shore Boulevard was rerouted to accommodate the Gardiner. The project cost $4.9 million. The project included a streetcar right-of-way in the middle of the Queensway from Parkside Drive to the Humber River.
The section from the Humber River west predates the High Park section and was previously known as Stock's Side Road, and then Queen Street. It originally spurred off Lake Shore Boulevard (then known as
Lake Shore Road) at the Humber River, but that connection was severed with the building of the Queen Elizabeth Way.
To build the Parkside Drive to Ellis Drive section, the Metro government bought of
High Park from the city. This was in contravention of stipulations by original High Park owner
John Howard
John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...
that the lands be used for parkland only. Metro officials searched for descendants of Howard to obtain their consent.
During the post-2000 period, the Queensway has been subject to new
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
development, particularly in the vicinity of the Humber River. An attraction to this development is the proximity to downtown streetcar service.
Streetcar right-of-way
The streetcar right-of-way (ROW) along the Queensway opened on July 20, 1957, together with the new
Humber Loop. Construction of the Gardiner Expressway had forced the abandonment of streetcar tracks along Lake Shore Boulevard between Sunnyside and the Humber River. From the intersection of King Street, the Queensway, Queen Street and Roncesvalles Avenue (KQQR), streetcars run in mixed traffic passing the
Sunnyside Loop to about Claude Avenue where the ROW begins. The ROW goes westwards, crosses the Humber River and then turns into Humber Loop.
On January 8, 2017, the ROW was closed in order to reconstruct the Queensway Bridge, carrying streetcar tracks over the Humber River, and to replace streetcar tracks and overhead wire on the ROW and at Humber Loop.
Streetcar service resumed to South Kingsway (with streetcars continuing without passengers to turn at Humber Loop) on April 1, 2018, and to Humber loop with passengers on June 24, 2018.
On March 31, 2021, the KQQR intersection closed for track replacement and a redesign of the intersection. As a result, buses replaced streetcar service along the Queensway.
(The KQQR intersection is expected to reopen for 501 Queen streetcars on September 3, 2022, and for 504 King streetcars by the end of December 2022.)
As part of the construction project, the ROW on the Queensway will be extended from Claude Avenue to Roncesvalles Avenue. At Sunnyside Avenue, traffic signals will be added to facilitate streetcar movements from the Sunnyside Loop. At Glendale Avenue, the westbound near-side platform will be relocated to the far side, and both the westbound and the far-side eastbound platforms will be widened for accessibility. Transit priority signals will be installed at Glendale Avenue, Sunnyside Avenue, and Roncesvalles Avenue. At KQQR, the eastbound platform on the Queensway will be replaced with a far-side platform on Queen Street, the new platform being similar to the
"bumpouts" along Roncesvalles Avenue.
At its west end, the ROW passes through Humber Loop running in a tunnel under the Gardiner Expressway to end in mixed traffic on Lake Shore Boulevard. In November 2017, the TTC issued a report recommending that the ROW be extended along Lake Shore Boulevard from the tunnel to Park Lawn Road, where a new Park Lawn Loop would be constructed. At that time, the TTC considered this to be a high-priority project. Extending the ROW further west was considered unjustified given projected ridership.
The Queensway right-of-way is currently used by the
501 Queen
501 Queen (301 Queen during overnight periods) is an east–west Toronto streetcar route in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
At long, it is one of the longest surface routes operated by the TTC, the longes ...
, with the
508 Lake Shore
The 508 Lake Shore is an east–west streetcar route in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The route serves the downtown financial district from the western limit of the city, and operates as a weekday ru ...
originally operating on it but later being put on hold due to
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
–related cuts.
The 80 Queensway operates west of Humber loop to the West Mall.
Nearby landmarks
From east to west:
Toronto
*
Roncesvalles Carhouse, TTC streetcar facility
*
St. Joseph's Health Centre
St. Joseph's Health Centre is a large Catholic teaching hospital in western Toronto, Ontario. It is located west of downtown Toronto, along the Lake Ontario shore at the intersection of The Queensway and Sunnyside Avenue, just west of Roncesvalle ...
*
High Park
*
Ontario Food Terminal
* Palace Pier Park
* Humber Bay Park
* Church on the Queensway (formerly named Queensway Cathedral),
a
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestantism, Protestant Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christian movement[Queensway Health Centre
Trillium Health Partners is a hospital system which serves Mississauga and western Toronto in the Canadian province of Ontario. It comprises the Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga Hospital, and Queensway Health Centre. Trillium Health Partner ...]
*
Sherway Gardens
Mississauga
*
Mississauga Hospital
* Huron Park Recreation Centre (north off of the Queensway)
* Credit Valley Golf and Country Club
References
External links
* , short documentary about the Parkside Drive streetcar stop along the Queensway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queensway, The
Roads in Toronto
Roads in Mississauga
Peel Regional Roads