Weston Road

York Regional Road 56
Major junctions
North end: Highway 9
  Highway 7
Highway 407
Steeles Avenue
Highway 401
South end: St. Clair Avenue
Highway system
Roads in Ontario

Weston Road is a north-south street in west end Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The route is named for the former Village of Weston, which was located near Weston Road and Lawrence Avenue West.

Looking north on Weston Road from Rogers Road, 1925

Route description

At its south end, Weston Road begins at Keele Street and St. Clair Avenue (Keele Street is cut off north of this location). Until May 2006, it began approximately 50 metres north of St. Clair, until a by-law was passed to change this.[1] Weston Rd. then travels in a northwest direction to Highway 401, passing through Mount Dennis at Eglinton Avenue, and Weston north of Lawrence Avenue. North of the 401, it is a north-south road to Steeles Avenue and continues into in York Region.

Most of Weston Road is a four-lane principal arterial road through residential areas, except for the northern section which is mostly industrial. The speed limit south of Finch Avenue is 50 km/h (30 mph), which increases to 60 km/h (35 mph) between Finch and Steeles.

Additionally, there is an Old Weston Road, part of the original road that continues near and somewhat parallel to Weston in the environs of its southern terminus. It essentially runs as an extension of Davenport Road, running northwards towards Rogers Road, a bit east of Weston Road. It passes through the neighbourhood of Silverthorne. It starts at Dundas Street and Dupont. It once ran directly north from there to St. Clair, but this road was closed in the 1970s and has since been removed south of Junction Road.

Storefronts along Weston Road in the Mount Dennis neighbourhood

Beyond the northern boundary of Toronto demarcated by Steeles Avenue, Weston Road continues into York Region, on the former Sixth Concession Road, where it is also marked as York Regional Road 56. Running parallel to Highway 400, it passes through the two western municipalities of York Region, Vaughan in the south and King in the north. The speed limit of York Regional Road 56 is 60 km/h (35 mph) north of Steeles Avenue. The northerly limit of the road is at Highway 9 in the Holland Marsh.

History

Weston Road was first laid out in the first decade of the 1800s to connect Dundas Street to the village of Weston. This followed the route of what is today "Old Weston Road", then the route of the current Weston Road north to Weston. Between 1810 and 1820, it was extended north to Vaughan Township. In 1841, the route was bought by private interests and it became the "Weston Plank Road", a toll road of planks. The Weston Plank Road extended from Dundas Street north to Musson's Bridge over the Humber, where Albion Road begins. The company built its headquarters at St. Phillip Road and Weston Road. The building exists today at 2371 Weston Road. In 1846, the Weston Plank Road Company built Albion Plank Road from Musson's bridge north-west to Bolton. In the 1850s, the roads were assumed by the township and its municipalities.[2]

Other information

Two bus routes serve Weston Road: 89 Weston (serving the stretch from Albion Road to St. Clair Avenue West, then via Keele Street to Keele subway station) and 165 Weston Road North (serving the stretch from Albion Road to Steeles Avenue, with some branches continuing into York Region).

The road is mentioned on Toronto native Drake's 2016 album Views, in the song "Weston Road Flows".

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bylaw 434-2006" (PDF). City of Toronto. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Appendix A-1: Cultural Landscape and Built Heritage – Existing Conditions: Review" (PDF) (pdf). City of Toronto. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
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