Steeles Avenue

Steeles Avenueis an east–west street that forms the northern city limit ofTorontoand the southern limit ofYork RegioninOntario,Canada. It stretches 77.3 km (48.0 mi) across the western and centralGreater Toronto Areafrom Appleby Line inMiltonin the west to theToronto-Pickering city limitsin the east, where it continues east intoDurham RegionasTaunton Road,which itself extends 58 km (36 mi) across the length of Durham Region to its boundary withNorthumberland County.

Steeles Avenue

Halton Regional Road 8 Peel Regional Road 15 York Regional Road 95(unsigned)
Route of Steeles Avenue in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Highlighted in a blue line.
Namesake	Thomas Steele
Maintained by	City of Toronto Region of Peel Region of Halton
Length	77.3 km (48.0 mi)
Location	Pickering Toronto Vaughan Markham Brampton Milton Halton Hills
West end	Appleby Line inMilton
Major junctions	Tremaine Road (Former)Highway 25(Martin Street) James Snow Parkway Trafalgar Road Winston Churchill Boulevard Mississauga Road Mavis Road/Chinguacousy Road Hurontario Street/Main Street Kennedy Road Highway 410 Dixie Road Airport Road Finch Avenue (Former)Highway 50/Albion Road Highway 427 (Former)Highway 27 Kipling Avenue Islington Avenue Weston Road Highway 400 Jane Street Keele Street Dufferin Street Bathurst Street Yonge Street Bayview Avenue Don Mills Road/Leslie Street Highway 404/Woodbine Avenue Warden Avenue Kennedy Road McCowan Road Markham Road Donald Cousens Parkway
East end	Scarborough-Pickering Townline/ York-Durham Line inPickering(Continues asTaunton Road)
Nearby arterial roads ←Finch Avenue Derry Road John Street 14th Avenue Highway 7 Queen Street→

York Region refers to Steeles Avenue asYork Regional Road 95but this use is only internal and there are no signs posted; as the street is maintained by the City of Toronto.ThroughPeelandHaltonRegions, the street is signed asPeel Regional Road 15andHalton Regional Road 8,respectively.

The combination of Steeles and Taunton Road is the only arterial road to cross almost the entireGreater Toronto Areawithout breaks or turnoffs.

History

The Green Bush Inn at Yonge and Steeles; circa 1920

The street is named after Thomas Steele (1806–1877),the first proprietor of theGreen Bush Innon the northwest corner of the street's intersection withYonge StreetinThornhill.Thomas Steele also previously managed an Inn inBond Head, Ontario.The street's name originally contained an apostrophe (before the 'S'), a suggestive of Steele's possession of the inn and land around the intersection, but it was dropped by the mid-20th century.

Steeles in Scarborough was once referred to asScarborough Town Linefrom 1850 to 1953. The section west of Yonge (bordering Vaughan) was calledVaughan Town Line.Prior to 1967, Steeles Avenue was namedUpper Base Line(Lower Base Line beingEglinton Avenue,which is still named as such) in Halton County.

Steeles became adivisionboundary in 1953 when the road, which was a common township boundary across the width of the-thenYork Countybetween the more urban townships surrounding theold City of Torontoand the more rural ones farther north, was chosen as the northern boundary of the newMetropolitan Toronto,which was severed from the county that year.To the west inPeel County,it was also the southern boundary ofChinguacousy Townshipand the Town ofBramptonand the northern boundary ofToronto Township(later the Town ofMississaugabetween 1968 and 1974) until the municipal restructuring of 1974 brought Steeles fully within Brampton when the new city limits were set to the south at the-then futureHighway 407corridor and theCanadian NationalHalton Subdivision.

A 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) stretch of Steeles Avenue will be widened from east of Tapscott Road to just east of Ninth Line from 2020 to 2024.

Route description

Steeles Avenue viewed fromYonge Street

Starting from the east, the road begins at Scarborough-PickeringTown Line/York-Durham Line, although east of the town line, the road continues asTaunton RoadorDurham Regional Road 4.Taunton Road continues as is until reaching Highway 35, where it becomes Concession Road 6, then after a turn, will become East Town Line, then to 6th Line, before ending at County Road 65.

Steeles is a two-lane rural road until east ofMarkham Road.It becomes a four lane suburban road with bicycle lanes on each side between Markham andKennedyRoads, six lanes from Kennedy toVictoria Park Avenue,and eight lanes from Victoria Park to the interchange withHighway 404.West of there, it alternates between four and six lanes the rest of way toAlbion Road.Like many other east–west arterial roads within Toronto and York Region, Steeles is divided into east and west segments byYonge Street.

Although on the boundary between the two municipalities, the Toronto-York Region portion of the road is maintained by Toronto. As a result, limited planning authority is granted to Toronto over York Region for lands that is within 45 metres (148 ft) of Steeles; formalized through a 1974 agreement betweenMetropolitan Toronto(succeeded by the amalgamated City of Toronto) and York Region. For instance, Toronto city councillorDavid Shinerinvoked the 1974 agreement to veto a proposed condo development that would replace the Shops on Steeles mall.Due to an ongoing dispute on the widening and maintenance costs of Steeles, York Region's proposedMarkham Bypassto Morningside Avenue has been stalled.

The areas around the street in Toronto and York Region consists of farmland (within theRouge National Urban Park) in the east, a mix of commercial and residential in the middle, and industrial zones near the west.

West of Albion Road, Steeles Avenue continues intoBramptoninPeel Region,where it is also designated asPeel Regional Road 15.Like the section in Toronto, Steeles Avenue has east–west segments, this time on either side ofHurontarioand Main Streets. Steeles Avenue continues intoHalton Region,where it is also designated asHalton Regional Road 8,through the town ofMilton,crossingHighway 401(no interchange) and ending at Appleby Line at a T intersection.

Originally, the road had a second section west of the height of theNiagara Escarpment(the location of theCrawford Lake Conservation Area), which ran from just east of Guelph Line west to the Milborough Townline on the boundary between Milton andHamilton,but this section was renamed toConservation Roadand is thus no longer part of Steeles.

Public transit

Toronto and York Region

Steeles Avenue, near its intersection withWarden Avenue.

The road is served predominantly by theTTC,having daytimebus routes53 Steeles East and 60 Steeles West. Both routes turn south atYonge Streetto terminate atFinch Stationon the eastern portion of theLine 1 Yonge–Universitysubway line. There are also two counterpart express bus routes during the rush hours, 953 Steeles East Express and 960 Steeles West Express, as well as one overnightBlue Nightroute, the 353 Steeles Blue Night.YRTroutes 88 and 91 also passes a short portion of Steeles West and Steeles East, respectively.

Several TTC bus routes provide service on north-south arterial roads in York Region that continue north from Toronto on a contractual basis. Steeles forms the fare zone boundary, and extra fare is required for bus riders to continue across it.

On December 17, 2017, an extension of the western portion of the Line 1 subway up to Vaughan was opened, passing through York University, with a station at Steeles calledPioneer Village.The station was named after the nearbyBlack Creek Pioneer Villageheritage museum (as opposed to simply having aWestdesignation as is the practice on most of the western section of the line). Unlike TTC-contracted bus routes however, no extra fare is charged when crossing Steeles on the subway, due to the difficulty of implementing a payment-on-exit system.MoveOntario 2020also includes plans to extend the Yonge subway line north and add a station at Steeles.

Brampton

Steeles Avenue in Brampton, nearShoppers World Brampton

Brampton Transitroutes 11 Steeles, 51 Hereford, and511 Züm Steeles(bus rapid transit) run along much of the street in Brampton. The 11A branch of route 11 serves the street fromBrampton Gateway TerminaltoHumber College,while limited trips along route 11 and all 511 Züm Steels trips run fromLisgar GO Stationto Humber College.Route 51 Hereford serves the route west of Brampton Gateway Terminal to Mississauga Road.In addition, several other routes run along it for shorter stretches.

Milton

Milton Transitoperates 2 routes that run along part of Steeles Avenue in Milton: 1 Industrial and 2 Main. Route 2 runs between Lawson Road and Thompson Road before going south.Route 1 is split into 3 branches, 1A, 1B and 1C. Routes 1A and 1B are separate directions in a loop, running on Steeles between Industrial Drive and Ontario Street and Thompson Road and Esquesing Line while route 1C operates on the section of Steeles between Martin Street and Ontario Street.

Canadian Automobile Association rating

Steeles Avenue was listed by the CAA as the "worst road in Ontario" for 2006, and as the fifth-worst road in October 2007. In October 2008, it was again crowned the worst road in Ontario.Reasons include potholes and general quality of surface. Soon after the results of CAA's survey were made public, some parts of the road betweenDufferin StreetandBayview Avenuewere resurfaced. The results of the 2009 survey listed Steeles as Ontario's worst road, for the second year in a row.

However, in 2010, Steeles Avenue was resurfaced from Yonge Street to Markham Road, with the funds coming from the federal infrastructure stimulus program, and the CAA named it the "Best Road in Ontario".

Landmarks

Landmarks and notable sites along Steeles from west to east

Landmark	Cross street	Notes	Image
Crawford Lake Conservation Area	West of Guelph Line	Former separate section of Steeles west of Guelph Line now known asConservation Road
Rattlesnake Point	Appleby Line	Present western terminus of Steeles
Toronto Premium Outlets	Trafalgar Road	FirstPremium Outlets Centerin Canada
Sheridan College-Davis Campus	McLaughlin Road	Sheridan's largest campus, educating nearly 8,000 students.
Shoppers World Brampton	Hurontario Street / Main Street	Brampton divide between Steeles West and Steeles East
Bramalea GO Station	Bramalea Road
Wet 'n' Wild Toronto	Finch Avenue	Canada's largest waterpark
Black Creek Pioneer Village	Jane Street
Pioneer Village station	Northwest Gate
York University	Keele Street, Founders Road, Murray Ross Parkway	Toronto's second largest university
Centerpoint Mall	Yonge Street	Formerly Towne and Country Square; Toronto/York Region divide between Steeles West and Steeles East
Brebeuf College School	Conacher Drive
Pacific Mall	Kennedy Road	Largest indoor Chinese Asian mall in North America
Market Village	Kennedy Road, Redlea Avenue	Former shopping centre which closed in 2018. To be replaced by Remington Centre.
Splendid China Mall	Kennedy Road, Redlea Avenue	FormerCanadian Tirestore
Milliken GO Station	Old Kennedy Road, Silverstar Boulevard	Station moved across the street from Markham to Toronto
Cedar Brae Golf & Country Club	Staines Road	Road entersRouge Park.Formerly Cedar Brook Golf and Country Club c. 1922
Menno-Reesor House (6461 Steeles Avenue East)	Littles Road	Home and barn will be renovated as part of theToronto Wildlife Centredevelopment

Neighbourhoods and communities

Steeles Avenue passes through numerous neighbourhoods (and two rural communities) across the municipalities it runs though:

Halton Region:

• Peru (Milton)
• Dorset Park (Milton)
• Hornby (Halton Hills)

Brampton:

• Churchville
• Peel Village
• Bramalea

Toronto/York Region:

• Claireville(Toronto)
• Rexdale(Toronto)
• Woodbridge(Vaughan)
• Humber Summit(Toronto)
• Black Creek(Toronto)
• Concord(Vaughan)
• Thornhill(split between Vaughan and Markham)
• Newtonbrook(Toronto)
• Bayview Woods-Steeles(Toronto)
• Milliken(split between Toronto and Markham)
• Armadale(split between Toronto and Markham)
• Morningside Heights(Toronto)
• Rouge(Toronto)

Future
(Toronto and York Region)

Main article:Steeles Avenue bus rapid transit

Arapid transitcorridor along Steeles Avenue in Toronto, operated by theToronto Transit Commission,has been proposed for completion inThe Big Move,Metrolinx's transportation plan for the Greater Toronto Area. It has not been determined if this corridor would be abus rapid transitor alight railtransit line.