Toronto Hydro estimated 450,000 people were without power after the storm and Toronto Pearson International Airport reported of rain had fallen over five hours, more than during Hurricane Hazel. Within six months, on December 20, 2013, Toronto was brought to a halt by the worst ice storm in the city's history, rivalling the severity of the 1998 Ice Storm. At the height of the storm over 300,000 Toronto Hydro customers had no electricity or heating. Toronto hosted WorldPride in June 2014, and the Pan American Games in 2015.
21st century
Toronto
Toronto | 21st century
They hosted WorldPride in June 2014, and the Pan American Games in 2015 Toronto hosted the 4th G20 summit during June 26–27, 2010. This included the largest security operation in Canadian history. Hosted WorldPride in June 2014, and the Pan American Games in 2015. Toronto hosted the 4th G20 summit during June 26–27, 2010 which included the largest security operation in Canadian history.
what is don valley parkway?
user
It is a municipal expressway.
assistant
has it been represented in media?
user
Yes, the music video for the song Subdivisions by Canadian rock group Rush features scenes of the DVP
assistant
when was the construction completed?
user
1966
assistant
is it a busy expressway?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
what places does it connect?
user
It connects Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto.
assistant
can you elaborate on the architecture of the first place?
user
It is a new, brash, rag-tag place—a big mix of periods and styles.
assistant
is the crime rate high here?
user
It  has a fairly low diurnal temperature range.
assistant
what all modes of transport are available?
user
road, rail and air networks are available
assistant
has there been any developments in the city in the current century?
user
On October 12, 2014, streetcar service resumed on 509 Harbourfront route after the street was rebuilt to a new design that replaced the eastbound auto lanes with parkland from Spadina Avenue to York Street. Thus, streetcars since then run on a roadside right-of-way immediately adjacent to a park on its southern edge.
Toronto streetcar system | 21st century (2001–present)
As new migrants began to prosper, they moved to better housing in other areas, in what is now understood to be succession waves of settlement. Despite its fast-paced growth, by the 1920s, Toronto's population and economic importance in Canada remained second to the much longer established Montreal, Quebec. However, by 1934, the Toronto Stock Exchange had become the largest in the country.
Toronto | 20th century
By 1900, the centre of business had moved west of the historical Town of York site. A new downtown to the west of Yonge and King Streets was built. The City of Toronto moved into a new City Hall, built at the head of Bay Street at Queen Street. Much of this new downtown was destroyed in the Great Toronto Fire of 1904, but it was quickly rebuilt, with new taller buildings. South of downtown, the railways dominated most of the lands. A new viaduct was built to carry the main lines and eliminate the many at-level crossings. A single Union Station was built to replace the several railway stations of the rail lines.
History of Toronto | 20th century
Transportation in the Canadian city of Toronto forms the hub of the road, rail and air networks in the Greater Toronto Area and much of southern Ontario. There are many forms of transport in the city, including railways, highways, and public transit. Toronto also has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths.
Transportation in Toronto | Introduction
By 2003, two-thirds of the city's streetcar tracks were in poor condition as the older track was poorly built using unwelded rail attached to untreated wooden ties lying on loose gravel. The result was street trackage falling apart quickly requiring digging up everything after 10 to 15 years. Thus, the TTC started to rebuild tracks using a different technique. With the new technique, concrete is poured over compacted gravel, and the ties are placed in another bed of concrete, which is topped by more concrete to embed rail clips and rubber-encased rails. The resulting rail is more stable and quieter with less vibration.
Toronto streetcar system | 21st century (2001–present)
The new tracks are expected to last 25 years after which only the top concrete layer needs to be removed in order to replace worn rails. Route 512 St. Clair was rebuilt to restore a separated right-of-way similar to that of the 510 on Spadina Avenue, to increase service reliability and was completed on June 30, 2010. On December 19, 2010, 504 King streetcar service returned to Roncesvalles Avenue after the street was rebuilt to a new design which provided a widened sidewalk "bumpout" at each stop to allow riders to board a streetcar directly from the curb. When no streetcar is present, cyclists may ride over the bumpout as it is doubles as part of a bike lane.
Toronto streetcar system | 21st century (2001–present)
In 1873, GTR built a second Union Station at the same location. New rail transportation networks were built in Toronto, including an extensive streetcar network in the city (still operational), plus long-distance railways and radial lines. One radial line ran mostly along Yonge Street for about 80 km to Lake Simcoe, and allowed day trips to its beaches. At the time, Toronto's own beaches were far too polluted to use, largely a side effect of dumping garbage directly in the lake. Other radial lines connected to suburbs.
History of Toronto | Latter 19th century
Between 1930 and 1948, the city replaced various TTC-operated radial railway routes extending to surrounding municipalities with bus routes. On 1 January 1954, the TTC became the sole public transit operator in the newly formed Metropolitan Toronto. Thus, the TTC took over some private bus operations that existed within the Metro area. These included: Between 1947 and 1993, the TTC operated a trolley bus system on medium ridership routes. In 1947, the TTC created four trolley bus routes (Lansdowne, Ossington, Annette, and Weston Road) in the west end that replaced streetcar routes. These routes were based at the Lansdowne garage.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | 19th and 20th centuries
Toronto is built on the former lake bed of Lake Iroquois. This large flat expanse presents few natural limits to growth, and throughout its history, Toronto has sprawled outward and today has a ring of suburbs that spans hundreds of square kilometres. In 2005, the provincial government has attempted to place an artificial limit to this growth in the form of a Greenbelt around the city. Toronto was planned out on a grid system of concession lines spaced about two kilometres apart that separated rural landholdings. Major avenues were established along each concession line as the city spread outward. These avenues run straight with few diversions for long stretches, and Toronto is notable for the considerable length of its major streets.
Architecture of Toronto | Landscape
Ford introduced air bags as an option in the Tempo in the US in 1984 and Crysler made them a standard feature in 1988. Air bags were made available in the Canadian market as this feature became available in US models. The semi-trailer truck (18 wheeler), became the dominant vehicle on the heavily used Highway 401 (Ontario). Containerization, which had made headway in ocean shipping with the construction of terminals in Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver also led to the eventual elimination of the railway box car and began to make inroads in the trucking industry. Light rail systems were built in Edmonton, Alberta in 1978, Calgary, Alberta, in 1981 and Vancouver, British Columbia in 1986.
Technological and industrial history of 20th-century Canada | Transportation
This era has been marked by urban sprawl. Population growth has been limited mostly to the suburbs and city boundaries have stretched far into what had been countryside mere decades earlier. With the extension of suburbia the provision of public services has become increasingly expensive as water systems, sewer systems and other structures have radiated from the city core. Of particular note is the construction of superhighways throughout the sixties and seventies. These massive corridors while designed to move increasing volumes of auto traffic also served to physically divide cities. In Toronto Highway 401 divides the city north/south, the Don Valley Parkway(1966), east/west and the Gardiner Expressway(1966) separates the city core from Lake Ontario.
History of cities in Canada | Changing structures – urban sprawl and downtown decay
Bus service in Toronto began in 1849, when the first public transport system in Toronto, the Williams Omnibus Bus Line, was launched. The service began with a fleet of six horse-drawn stagecoaches. After ten years, the use of streetcars were introduced in the city as the Toronto Street Railway (TSR) was established in 1861. After a year of competition between the two companies, the TSR had surpassed Williams Omnibus Line in ridership. Until 1921, several private and publicly owned transport systems were established and ended up being merged into one another or abandoned. Electric streetcars were widely used in Toronto and surrounding settlements during the new century.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | 19th and 20th centuries
The regional population of Toronto is expected to reach 7 million people within the next 10 years, up from the current 5.5 million, making it one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in North America. Over the last couple of decades, traffic volumes has been increasing steadily in the Greater Toronto Area. However, road and transit investments have not kept pace with the growth in demand. Urban sprawl is a major factor: some commuters travel significant distances within the city and the surrounding GTA for employment. Downtown-to-suburb and suburb-suburb commutes have been increasing as well, which existing public transit services are not organized to efficiently accommodate.
Transportation in Toronto | Future prospects and concerns
Public transportation in Toronto dates back to 1849 with the creation of a horse-drawn stagecoach company. Today, Toronto's mass transit is primarily made up of a system of subways, buses, and streetcars, covering approximately of routes operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and inter-regional commuter rail and bus service is provided by GO Transit.
Public transportation in Toronto | Introduction
This new streetcar service replaced the former route 77 Spadina bus, and since 1997 has provided the main north–south transit service through Toronto's Chinatown and the western boundary of University of Toronto's main campus. The tracks along Queen's Quay were extended to Bathurst Street in 2000 to connect to the existing Bathurst route, providing for a new 509 Harbourfront route from Union Station to the refurbished Exhibition Loop at the Exhibition grounds, where the Canadian National Exhibition is held.
Toronto streetcar system | Late 20th-century expansion (1989–2000)
Following World War II, like most other North American cities, Toronto entered a period of urban sprawl that was fed by the creation of large highway systems. The highways were built by the province, not the city, and did not enter the city core. Commuters could approach what was then the outskirts of the city, but getting to work in the business areas on the shore of Lake Ontario was extremely time-consuming. As more and more of the population moved into the suburbs, an efficient transit system that served these users became increasingly important. Starting in the 1940s, various plans were developed to greatly expand the highway network within the city.
GO-Urban | Expressway plan
The TTC returned to building new streetcar routes in 1989. The first new line was route 604 Harbourfront, starting from Union station, travelling underneath Bay Street and rising to a dedicated centre median on Queen's Quay (along the edge of Lake Ontario) to the foot of Spadina Avenue. This route was lengthened northward along Spadina Avenue in 1997, continuing to travel in a dedicated right-of-way in the centre of the street, and ending in an underground terminal at Spadina station. At this time, the route was renamed 510 Spadina to fit with the numbering scheme of the other streetcar routes.
Toronto streetcar system | Late 20th-century expansion (1989–2000)
Rail lines came to the waterfront harbour area in the 1850s. A planned "Esplanade" land-fill project to create a promenade along the harbour, instead became a new right-of-way for the rail lines, which extended to new wharves on the harbour. Three railway companies built lines to Toronto: the Grand Trunk Railway, (GTR) the Great Western Railway and Northern Railway of Canada. The GTR built the first Union Station in 1858 in the downtown area. The advent of the railway dramatically increased the numbers of immigrants arriving and commerce, as had the Lake Ontario steamers and schooners entering the port. The railway lands would dominate the central waterfront for the next 100 years.
History of Toronto | Latter 19th century
In the kitchen metal chrome tube chairs and formica topped tables were popular. The small front and back yard were maintained with the help of a gasoline-powered lawn mower, and the hedge and bushes were trimmed with electric clippers. In the early 1960s the high-rise apartment building began to make its appearance in large cities. The self-supporting steel structures were usually seven stories or more, and large buildings contained hundreds of dwelling units. Initially they were especially visible along Highway 401 in Toronto, Metropolitan Boulevard in Montreal and the north shore of English Bay in Vancouver. Their construction was possible due to the introduction of the high-rise crane, which to this day remains a common feature of city skylines.
Technological and industrial history of 20th-century Canada | Domestic and consumer technology (in the home)
It sat empty for a while over disagreements between government and the rail companies. The Don River has an especially deep ravine, cutting off the east of the city at most points north of the lakeshore. This was addressed in October 1918, when the construction of the Prince Edward Viaduct, was finalized, linking Bloor Street on the western side of the ravine with Danforth Avenue on the east. The designer, Edmund Burke, fought long and hard to have a lower deck added to the bridge for trains, a cost the city was not willing to provide for. Nevertheless, he finally got his way, and thereby saved the city millions of dollars when the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) subway started using the deck in 1966.
History of Toronto | 20th century
After the establishment of the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) (predecessor of the Toronto Transit Commission (also having the acronym of TTC) until 1954), streetcar routes were taken over from predecessors in 1921. It ran bus routes by using motor buses for the first time in the city. The TTC also experimented the use of trolley buses from 1922 to 1925, operating a line on Merton Avenue and Mount Pleasant Road. Gray Coach, an intercity bus line by the TTC, began operation in 1927. As the coach service increased in ridership, the TTC built the Toronto Coach Terminal. By 1933, the TTC introduced the local bus and streetcar stop design, a white pole with a red band on the top and bottom.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | 19th and 20th centuries
In August 2014, a major southward expansion of the PATH network brought it closer to the Toronto waterfront, with the opening of a covered pedestrian bridge connecting Scotiabank Arena south to WaterPark Place on Queens Quay (crossing the Lake Shore Boulevard/Gardiner Expressway corridor and Harbour Street).
PATH (Toronto) | 21st century
Toronto is a central transportation hub for road, rail and air networks in Southern Ontario. There are many forms of transport in the city of Toronto, including highways and public transit. Toronto also has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths.
Toronto | Transportation
This will expand not only the current GO concourse in the east of the building, but also open up the western end; GO Transit's presence in the building will nearly quadruple. Additional aesthetic points include glass roofs over the moat space around the north sides of the building, and a tall atrium over the central portions of the platforms. A new southern entrance, adjacent to the Air Canada Centre, opened in 2010.
Union Station (Toronto) | 21st century revitalization
In December 2011, the TTC bus fleet became fully accessible with the retirement of the last of the old, non-accessible GM "New Look" buses, a model dating back to the 1950s. The last New look buses ran on 52 Lawrence West on 16 December, and were replaced by accessible Orion VII low-floor buses. At that time, the TTC operated 1,800 12-metre accessible buses, all of which were equipped with bike racks. The TTC ordered 27 articulated buses from Nova Bus, which began revenue operation in the spring of 2014. At long, as compared with a standard 40-foot bus, the Nova LFS Artics hold about 112 passengers, compared with 65 on the standard length bus.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | 21st century
The history of public transportation in Toronto in Canada dates back to the middle 19th century under many different private companies, organizations and owners, which were all later unified as a single government-run entity during the 1920s.
History of the Toronto Transit Commission | Introduction
Cities in and around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) expanded greatly during the 1950s, influenced by growth in immigration and industrialization. Much of the existing commuter service was provided by the Canadian National Railway, which faced mounting pressure to expand its service beyond Lakeshore trains it ran between Hamilton in the west and Danforth in the east, to Toronto; however, CN lacked the financial and physical capital to do this. Real improved commuter service was not considered until the 1962 Metropolitan Toronto and Region Transportation Study, which examined land use and traffic in the newly created Metropolitan Toronto.
GO Transit | Early days
Many of Toronto's early hotels were small inns and taverns that were built along each of the major routes out of the city. The oldest surviving hotel in Toronto is Montgomery's Inn, which was built in 1832. The Lambton House is another surviving hotel structure that also served those travelling on Dundas Street. Both hotels had since been converted as museums. The arrival of the railroad in the mid-nineteenth century dramatically changed travel patterns, and new hotels from this era were clustered around the railroad stations. Outside the central core, smaller hotels grew up to serve the stations in what were then the outer reaches of the city.
Architecture of Toronto | Hotels
Streetcars once existed in the Canadian cities of Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough, Quebec City, Regina, Saskatoon, Windsor, and Vancouver. However, Canadian cities excluding Toronto, removed their streetcar systems in the mid-20th century. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, light rail systems were introduced in Calgary and Edmonton; with another light rail system established in Ottawa in 2001. There is now something of a renaissance for light railways in mid-sized cities with Waterloo, Ontario the first to come on line and construction underway in Mississauga, Ontario. In the late 20th century, several Canadian locales restored portions of their defunct streetcar lines, operating them as a heritage feature for tourists.
Tram | Canada
The transit platforms incorporated ramps to provide a bicycle lane. Sewers were rebuilt during 2009 and early 2010. The trees on the street, which were in planters, were replaced, and the new trees planted at ground level. The soil beneath the tree plantings was landscaped into trenches beneath the sidewalks.
Roncesvalles, Toronto | Transportation
In the 1850s the railway reached Toronto from Hamilton cutting across the Garrison Common and by 1860, more of the Garrison Common west of the Garrison Creek and south of Queen street was subdivided around a 'Strachan Avenue' leading up to Bishop Strachan's Trinity College. Some of the housing in the older St. Andrew's Ward was rebuilt. At the end of the 19th century Toronto carried out a large number of annexations and planned new grand institutional building north of Queen Street in St. John's Ward (now the Discovery District), this led to the deterioration and demolition of many of Toronto's old institutional buildings south of Queen Street with many of the large lots being sold to the expanding Railways.
Niagara, Toronto | Residential and industrial development
One key element to this integration would be a single fare system, called Presto, to improve the convenience of transfers between different transit agencies. On March 23, 2006, the Government of Ontario announced funding for the extension northward of the TTC's Spadina Subway Line to the York University campus and beyond into the proposed Vaughan Metropolitan Centre in neighbouring Vaughan, York Region. When completed, it will be the first extension of the TTC subway system beyond the current post-1998 municipal border of Toronto. However, Toronto's existing transportation network, particularly public transit, have not kept up with the growth of the city.
Transportation in Toronto | Future prospects and concerns
In the subsequent decades, the Peel Region and York Region suburbs of Toronto have expanded greatly in population and industrial development. The availability of land for development and pro-development municipal governments has led to extensive residential and industrial development. An extensive highway network has been developed of Highways 403, 407, 410, 427 and 404 within those suburbs. In comparison, the city has not built any new expressways since the cancellation of the Spadina. As an alternative to road construction, the city and province have made efforts to expand TTC services and the GO Transit commuter train service. Although TTC ridership declined in the 1980s and 1990s, it has recently begun to reverse the trend.
Cancelled expressways in Toronto | Ongoing political debate
Cycling in Toronto has improved over the years as the residents and municipal government have become more interested in it as a form of transportation. Toronto has a major program in place to dramatically expand the network through on-road separate bike lanes, with the goal of having any cyclist in the city proper within a five-minute ride of a designated bike route. The network includes a planned 500 km of on-street bike lanes, and another 250 km of off-road paved trails. To date, only a small portion of the network has been built. Gaining approval to put in the on-street bike lanes has proven to be a serious problem, and less than 90 km of the planned 500 km have been set up so far.
Transportation in Toronto | Cycling
The GO ALRT project was an idea that was ahead of it's time. As there had been inter regional inter urban rail service provided earlier in the 20th century, obviously the loss of the interurbans, or radial cars as is referred to in Canada, to expressways and urban renewal was a decision that was short sighted at best. Coming to more recent times there is more of an emphasis of attempting to revitalize as well as reconceptualizing the suburbs as having urban infill development, similar to the store fronts with apartments on top as seen in downtown Toronto throughfares, with light rail transit similar to European low floor tramways providing a transportation linkage for such a newer concept of built space.
GO-ALRT | Reflection
These developments were part of a $100 million initiative announced by the city and its transit authorities, along with the Government of Ontario and Government of Canada. On August 5, 2009, the Toronto City Council approved an update of this plan which was projected to cost $640 million, with construction lasting from 2010 to 2014. Much of the work was undertaken by or managed by Carillion. The work also involved a complete overhaul of the GO concourses, deepening them to create two storeys of space. The lower level (the food court section of which opened in January 2019) will provide retail space and room for pedestrian traffic flow, and the upper storey will be dedicated to passenger traffic onto the platforms.
Union Station (Toronto) | 21st century revitalization
Toronto grew rapidly in the late 19th century, the population increasing from 30,000 in 1851 to 56,000 in 1871, 86,400 in 1881 and 181,000 in 1891. The total urbanized population was not counted as it is today to include the greater area, those just outside the city limits made for a significantly higher population. The 1891 figure also included population counted after recent annexations of many smaller, adjacent towns such as Parkdale, Brockton Village, West Toronto, East Toronto, and others. Immigration, high birth rates and influx from the surrounding rural population accounted for much of this growth, although immigration had slowed substantially by the 1880s if compared to the generation prior.
History of Toronto | Latter 19th century
In the post-war era, Hamilton and Toronto, like most other North American cities, entered a period of urban sprawl, which was fed by the construction of large inter-urban highway systems. Funded and controlled by the provincial government, municipal citizens often had very little input or consultation in the matter and a few homes as well as business were usually destroyed in the construction. The first highway systems centered along the peripheral of the city and commuters could only approach what was then the outskirts of town, thus making daily trips to the commercial center and industrial lands time consuming and as an increasing amount of the population flocked to the suburbs an efficient transportation system to service the booming residential areas became a pressing issue.
Chateau Royale (Hamilton, Ontario) | Troublesome transit
Such systems are now in place in Toronto (1993), Ottawa, Calgary and Halifax. The city of Montreal will take the first steps for the installation of such a system in 2011. 500 video cameras and other street and highway mounted sensors will provide information for a central computer which will be used to control traffic lights to improve traffic flow and reduce accidents. Another traffic management tool involves the use of satellite tracking. Promoted by a Toronto company, Skymeter Corp, but not yet deployed in Canada, the system, a type of toll road in the sky, is designed to reduce traffic jams through the use of automobile based transponder/GPS systems and satellites.
Technological and industrial history of 21st-century Canada | Transportation
The rest of the city is primarily served by a network of about 150 bus routes, many of them forming a grid along main streets, and all of them (except for the #99 and #171 routes) connecting to one or more subway stations. A more distinctive feature of the TTC is the streetcar system, one of the few remaining in North America with a substantial amount of in-street operation. The city of Toronto has the largest streetcar system in the Americas.
Transportation in Toronto | Buses and streetcars
Toronto's streetcar system is one of the few in North America still operating along street-running tracks. It has been operating since the mid-19th century. Horsecar service started in 1861, and 600 V DC overhead electric service began in 1892. New TTC routes since the 1940s have generally been operated by other modes of transportation, and the less busy streetcar routes have also been converted. Streetcar routes are now focused on the downtown area, with none running farther north than St. Clair Avenue, from Lake Ontario. Up until 1995, the TTC operated a fleet of 765 PCC-type streetcars, 540 of which it purchased new.
Toronto Transit Commission | Streetcars
Between 2006 and 2009, the TTC made its first purchases of hybrid electric buses, choosing the Orion VII model. These buses had batteries that would only last 18 months instead of the expected 5 years. As a result, the TTC went back to purchasing diesel buses until 2018, when it would try hybrid technology again. In 2009, the TTC opened its first BRT route that uses its own dedicated busway and bus lanes when route 196 York University Rocket was rerouted to the York University Busway. When the extension of Line 1 to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre opened in December 2017, the 939B Finch Express is the only route continuing to use it.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | 21st century
Public transit in Toronto started in 1849 with a privately operated transit service. In later years, the city operated some routes, but in 1921 assumed control over all routes and formed the Toronto Transportation Commission to operate them. During this period, streetcars provided the bulk of the service. In 1954, the TTC adopted its present name, opened the first subway line, and greatly expanded its service area to cover the newly formed municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (which eventually amalgamated into the present City of Toronto). The system has evolved to feature a wide network of surface routes with the subway lines as the backbone.
Toronto Transit Commission | History
From 1820 to 1896, tolls were collected on roads leaving the old city boundaries: No Toronto roads have been tolled since 1896; the closest is Highway 407 in Durham Region, York Region and Peel Region; the expressway runs northeast, north and northwest of the city, respectively.
Transportation in Toronto | Toll roads
The construction of skyscrapers has continued apace in recent years with Toronto and Calgary accounting for most of the new structures. These include: Bankers Hall West, Calgary, 2000, the TransCanada Tower, Calgary, 2001, One Wall Centre, Vancouver, 2001, One King Street West, Toronto, 2005, West 1, Toronto, 2005, Harbourview Estates 2, Toronto, 2005, Residences of College Park 1, Toronto, 2006, Living Shangri-La, Vancouver, 2008, the Hilton Fallsview Hotel Tower, Niagara Falls, 2008, Quantum 2 (Minto Midtown), Toronto, 2008, the Bay Adelaide Centre West, Toronto, 2009, the RBC Centre, Toronto, 2009, Success, Toronto, 2009, Montage, Toronto, 2009, the Ritz-Carlton, Toronto, 2010, Centennial Place, Calgary, 2010, Maple Leaf Square North and South, Toronto, 2010, Jamieson Place, Calgary, 2010, Festival Tower, Toronto, 2010, The Bow (skyscraper), Calgary, 2011, Trump International Hotel and Tower, Toronto, 2011, The Uptown Residences, Toronto, 2011, Eighth Avenue Place (Calgary), 2011, the Four Seasons, Toronto, 2011, The Private Residences, Vancouver, 2011, the Burano, Toronto, 2011, Absolute World North and South, Mississauga, 2011, the Marriott Courtyard Hotel, Montreal, 2012, the Shangri-La Toronto, 2012, and the L Tower, Toronto, 2012.
Technological and industrial history of 21st-century Canada | Architecture, public works and heavy engineering
Further development took place in the 1980s, with the 1984 completion of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre drawing new attention to the area. With the arrival of new visitors and development of new commercial draws, a fresh master plan was drawn up by the City of Toronto for revitalization of this area. At the same time Via Rail, the sole remaining occupant of the Spadina Street Yards, relocated their local operations to the newly built Toronto Maintenance Centre in New Toronto, freeing up the lands necessary for the planned revitalization. Work commenced after the demolition of the last railway buildings with the construction of SkyDome, which was completed in 1989.
CityPlace, Toronto | Early history
In the past decade, issues concerning transit funding and expansion have become political football. For example, in 2007, Metrolinx is provided $8.4 billion of funding to construct four light rail lines throughout the City, including light rail lines along Eglinton Avenue, Finch Avenue West, and Sheppard Avenue East, as well as a line replacing Line 3 Scarborough, all of which are expected to be completed and in operation by 2020. However, by 2017, political interference from provincial and municipal levels of government, funding cuts and delays meant that no lines will be complete by 2020, with the initial phase of the Eglinton Line being projected to be the first segment to open by late 2021.
Transportation in Toronto | Future prospects and concerns
During World War II, workers travelling from their homes in "northern Toronto" (which would now be considered the downtown core) to the industrial areas to the east and west of the downtown area on Yonge seriously strained the existing road and streetcar networks. There was concern that the expected post-war boom in car ownership would choke the city with traffic. The scheme was first proposed by Toronto Transportation Commission in 1942 to relieve congestion, which was delaying their bus and tram services. The TTC formed a Rapid Transit Department and studied various solutions between 1942 and 1945. A plan was put to the voters on January 1, 1946.
Line 1 Yonge–University | Construction
Toronto has 9500 roads or 5200 kilometres across the city. Toronto is largely built on a grid-based road system with a few notable exceptions. These include streets such as Davenport Road and Vaughan Road, which follow an old native trail, while others, such as Kingston Road, were originally constructed to link Toronto with other settlements in Ontario. The street network downtown mostly consists of a dense network of four-lane arterial and collector roads typical of an older North American city. Outside the downtown core, most arterial roads have two or three lanes of traffic in each direction. Toronto's road system was mainly designed for vehicular traffic, and is quite easy to navigate.
Transportation in Toronto | Roads
Toronto has a longstanding policy of encouraging new construction along the route of its primary Yonge Street subway line. Most notable are the development of the Yonge and Eglinton area in the 1960s and 1970s; and the present development of the 2 km of the Yonge Street corridor north of Sheppard Avenue, which began in the late 1980s. In the period since 1997 alone the latter stretch has seen the appearance of a major new shopping centre and the building and occupation of over twenty thousand new units of condominium housing. Since the opening of the Sheppard subway line in 2002, there is a condominium construction boom along the route on Sheppard Avenue East between Yonge Street and Don Mills Road.
Transit-oriented development | Toronto, Ontario
In the early 20th century, Chinatown would develop into another important neighbourhood just to the east. Middle and upper class residents left the core and moved into new areas further out, creating a number of new neighbourhoods. A ring of former farmland around the city was thus developed into new residential areas. These included The Annex, named for its annexation to the city of Toronto, and the former village of Yorkville. This process accelerated considerably at the end of the century with the introduction of the streetcar. The streetcar allowed residents living outside the central business district to travel to work with ease.
History of neighbourhoods in Toronto | Urban slums and streetcar suburbs
At the same time developments, especially those in United States, were not ignored. Toronto closely followed Chicago and New York as the home of skyscrapers employing new steel framed construction and elevators. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Toronto's influence on other Canadian cities, largely because of the control of capital (especially banks) meant that Western Canadian cities, particularly Vancouver, became filled with lesser versions of their counterparts in Toronto (e.g. TD Tower (Vancouver), Bentall Centre (Vancouver)) which displaced the city's older and distinctly Edwardian flavor. Modernism appeared in a number of guises. In the 1920s and 1930s the banks and insurance companies embraced Modern Classicism.
Architecture of Canada | Modern period
The two trails are ostensibly connected together via a lakeside route, but due to a massive build-out of this area during the 1990s, the "trail" through much of the downtown area exists in name only. Nevertheless, Toronto has an extensive bicycle culture. The municipal government encourages bicycle use through its Toronto Bike Plan. An extensive City of Toronto Bicycle Map is available from the City of Toronto free of charge as well as from their website. All TTC buses have bicycle racks attached to their fronts since 2013. Bicycles are allowed on the subway outside of the morning and evening rush hours.
Transportation in Toronto | Cycling
The Ontario Highway 407 Express Toll Road (ETR), opened in Toronto in 1997 to ease the burden of traffic on Highway 401 which passes through the heart of the city to the south. Special technology is used to collect tolls without the use to toll booths. Regular users can equip their cars with a transponder that sends a signal to highway sensors when the vehicle enters and leaves the road. For those vehicles without a transponder, special electro-optical sensors read the number plate and a bill for the toll is sent to the vehicle owner in the mail.
Technological and industrial history of 20th-century Canada | Transportation
Modern streetcars have been built in various cities across America recently as well, including the Atlanta Streetcar and the Dallas Streetcar. Some cities though have rebuilt their heritage streetcars in the 21st century, such as Tampa with its TECO Line Streetcar that opened in 2002. New commuter rail systems have been built in a bunch of cities too like Orlando's Sunrail or Seattle's Sounder Commuter Rail. Overall though, public transportation has been an important issue for 21st century American cities, and as a result there has been a large amount of focus on building or expanding various public transportation systems within urban areas.
American urban history | 21st century
Lakes and rivers had been the principal means of transportation, but they were frozen and unusable for 4–5 months of the year. Road construction was primitive; trees were cut down and laid side by side in swamps to form 'corduroy' roads. Most roads were passable in winter (hard frozen) and summer (hard baked), but impassable mud troughs in spring and fall. Railways were essential, but had to be built cheaply enough to serve a wild and unsettled region.
Toronto and Nipissing Railway | Early history
The city attracted international attention in 2003 when it became the centre of a major SARS outbreak. Public health attempts to prevent the disease from spreading elsewhere temporarily dampened the local economy. On March 6, 2009, the city celebrated the 175th anniversary of its inception as the City of Toronto in 1834. Toronto hosted the 4th G20 summit during June 26–27, 2010. This included the largest security operation in Canadian history. Following large-scale protests and rioting, law enforcement conducted the largest mass arrest (more than a thousand people) in Canadian history. On July 8, 2013, severe flash flooding hit Toronto after an afternoon of slow-moving, intense thunderstorms.
Toronto | 21st century
By the 1980s almost all the open areas within the limits of Metro Toronto had been developed, with most of the growth in brand new developments occurring in the belt around Toronto known as the 905. This same era saw a deindustrialization of central Toronto, as almost all the factories and warehouses that had once dominated the waterfront disappeared. This created wide expanses for new developments and new neighbourhoods. A number of new communities have developed and are developing in these post-industrial zones, the largest of them being CityPlace on the former railway lands. To the west and east other residential and cultural zones have appeared in areas such as Liberty Village and the Distillery District.
History of neighbourhoods in Toronto | Post-industrial Toronto
Based on TTC documents, the author argued that service is about one minute slower (from Queens Quay to Bloor) during afternoon rush hour than in 1990. The author also cited TTC documents which show that the cost-to-revenue ratio of the route has fallen with the switch from buses to streetcars. Mitch Stambler, the TTC's manager of service planning, responded by pointing out that streetcars offer a smoother and quieter ride, zero emissions, and economic development.
510 Spadina | Modern route
The TTC realized that improvements had to be made, despite the depression, and in 1936, purchased the first of the newly developed Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars, which are custom-designed. The war put an end to the depression and increased migration from rural to urban areas. After the war, municipalities faced the problem of extending services to accommodate the increased population. Ironically, the one municipal service that prospered during the war years was public transit; employers had to stagger work hours in order to avoid overcrowding the streetcars. Toronto continued their program of purchasing PCC cars, running the world's largest fleet, including many obtained second-hand from U.S.
Public transportation in Toronto | Toronto Transportation Commission (1921–1953)
Expansion is underway to facilitate all-day 15-minute or better commuter train service, electrification and increased ridership on five of the busiest lines. Local transit is provided by municipal agencies, the largest of which is the Toronto Transit Commission, which operates three subway lines and one light metro line and an extensive bus and streetcar network. Rapid transit systems outside Toronto include the VIVA bus rapid transit in York Region, the ION light rail system in Kitchener-Waterloo, and the Mississauga transitway. Line 5 and Line 6 are under construction LRT/subway lines in Toronto. The Hurontario LRT is currently under construction in Peel Region, as well as various bus rapid transit projects in Peel and York Regions.
Golden Horseshoe | Transportation
Improved transportation facilities aided growth. Union Station (Toronto) provided a hub for passenger rail service in the busy Windsor Quebec corridor and a focus for the subway service. Highway 401 provided an artery for automobile traffic east and west. Toronto Pearson International Airport became Canada's largest and a massive new terminal building has been completed.
History of cities in Canada | The new metropolis : Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe
Prior to the 1980s, the bus shelters on TTC routes were installed and maintained by the TTC and the various municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto and lacked advertising. Within the old city of Toronto, they were metal frames with large glass panes, but the suburban ones were metal-clad with fibreglass and smaller glass windows. A few older shelters, like Otter Loop (Small Arms and Coxwell Loops were similar for use on streetcar routes), were formal brick-and-glass structures; most of these disappeared in 1960s or 1970s, with Otter's structure surviving into the early 2000s. However, during the mid-2010s, the Otter Loop bus shelter was removed and the area was converted into Heart Park.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | Shelters
Early 19th century Toronto was a town of a few thousand people. Most of the rest of the region that today makes up the city was rural farmland dotted with small villages. Some towns such as Norway have disappeared leaving only a few traces, but many others, such as Malvern and Wexford have become well known neighbourhoods in the Toronto suburbs. On the main routes leaving the city, small inns and taverns were established, often around the toll booths that were placed on the early highways and these often developed into small towns. There were three main routes out of the city: Kingston Road leading to the east, Yonge Street going north, and Dundas Street heading west.
History of neighbourhoods in Toronto | Rural villages
Most of Toronto has a squarish grid of main streets that originated as township roads and are spaced at 1¼-mile intervals (about 2 km). By running overnight buses along every second road in the grid, all parts of Metro would be reached and 86% of the population would be within a 15-minute walk (taken as 1.25 km or ¾ mile). To avoid excessively long trips, some grid streets such as Eglinton Avenue would require two bus routes meeting end-to-end, but still just 15 routes would be needed to form the grid. The 506 Carlton route had sufficient traffic to be retained in addition, for a total of 16 routes.
Blue Night Network | 1986 report
Buses are a large part of the TTC operations today, but before the 1960s they played a lesser role to streetcar operations. Bus service in Toronto started in 1921, but it was not until the creation of the TTC that buses become a part of public transit. There were a few independent bus operators that continued to provide inter-urban bus services: Here is a list of historic and current buses used by the old TTC:
Toronto Transportation Commission | Buses
In the 1970s, deindustrialization began to have a dramatic effect on Toronto. By the 1990s, almost all of the older factories by the waterfront were gone. Some of the newer facilities further north still remain, but are constantly disappearing. Many of the more historic industrial buildings have been converted into lofts and offices. Most have been demolished, and in their place, dozens of condominium towers have been erected by the lake shore. There are also still large stretches of abandoned industrial land in the Port Lands district and other parts of Toronto awaiting a redevelopment plan.
Architecture of Toronto | Industrial architecture
The idea towards a streamlined local government to control local infrastructure was made as early as 1907 by member of federal Parliament, and founder of the "Toronto Globe", William Findlay Maclean, who called for the expansion of the government of the former City of Toronto in order to create a "Greater Toronto". The idea for a single government municipality would not be seriously explored until the late 1940s when planners decided the city needed to incorporate its immediate suburbs. However, due to strong opposition from suburban politicians, a compromise was struck, which resulted in the creation of Metropolitan Toronto. In 1953, the portion of York County south of Steeles Avenue, a concession road and township boundary, was severed from the county and incorporated as the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto.
Greater Toronto Area | Since 1900
In 1920, a Provincial Act created the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) and, with the expiration of the TRC's franchise in 1921, the Commission took over and amalgamated nine existing fare systems within the city limits. Between 1921 and 1953, the TTC added 35 new routes in the city and extended 20 more. It also operated 23 suburban routes on a service-for-cost basis. It abandoned the unprofitable North Yonge Railways radial railway line. The Great Depression and World War II both placed heavy burdens on the ability of municipalities to finance themselves. During most of the 1930s, municipal governments had to cope with general welfare costs and assistance to the unemployed.
Public transportation in Toronto | Toronto Transportation Commission (1921–1953)
Significant portions of the railway network in the City of Toronto have been sold by the commercial railways to GO Transit, the provincial commuter rail operator. Toronto is served by inter-city Via Rail to other Canadian cities and Amtrak's daily New York City trains through Union Station, a grand neoclassical structure in the heart of the city's downtown, which is shared with GO Transit's commuter trains. The Union Pearson Express, an airport rail link from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Union Station and the central business district, started operation on June 6, 2015. It was completed in time for the 2015 Pan American Games.
Transportation in Toronto | Railways
Most of the avenues go from one side of the city to the other, and often continue deep into the neighbouring suburbs. Suburban expansion replaced these rural lots with subdivisions made of crescents and cul-de-sacs. These local road networks were designed to reduce and slow traffic, redirecting vehicles to the avenues. These wide avenues that even run through the central city have also made it easier for Toronto to retain a streetcar system, which was among the few North American cities to do so. The most important obstacle to construction is Toronto's network of ravines. Historically, city planners filled in many of the ravines, and when this was not possible, planners mostly ignored them, though today the remaining ones are embraced for their natural beauty.
Architecture of Toronto | Landscape
During these years the structures of cities evolved rapidly. In 1850 the city was essentially all ¨downtown¨. The main buildings, serving residential, commercial and industrial functions, were made of wood or stone, mostly four to five stories tall and self-supporting. Streets were of dirt or occasionally cobblestone and strewn with garbage and human excrement. Animals wandered about and horses were everywhere, solo, with rider or pulling wagons or carriages. In larger cities public transit was provided by horse cars on rails. Gas lights provided illumination at night. The force of life was provided by muscle power, animal or human. This changed rapidly.
History of cities in Canada | Changing structures – high rise cores and suburbs
Few structures survive from the earliest period of Toronto's history. The oldest home, and structure still standing, in Toronto is Scadding Cabin. Completed in 1794, Scadding Cabin is presently used as a heritage museum after it was relocated to Exhibition Place next to the Fort Rouillé site. Finished in 1807, John Cox Cottage is the oldest known house in the city still used as a residence. Two of Toronto's oldest surviving brick houses are Campbell House and The Grange. Both are brick structures built in the Georgian style during the first half of the 19th century, reflecting the tastes of Toronto's elite in that era.
Architecture of Toronto | Nineteenth century
The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 destroyed a large section of downtown Toronto. The fire destroyed more than 100 buildings. The fire claimed one victim, John Croft, who was an explosive expert clearing the ruins from the fire. It caused in damage (roughly in 2020 terms). The city received new European immigrant groups beginning in the late 19th century into the early 20th century, particularly Germans, French, Italians, and Jews. They were soon followed by Russians, Poles, and other Eastern European nations, in addition to Chinese entering from the West. As the Irish before them, many of these migrants lived in overcrowded shanty-type slums, such as "the Ward" which was centred on Bay Street, now the heart of the country's Financial District.
Toronto | 20th century
Upscale neighbourhoods were built such as the Bridle Path in North York, the area surrounding the Scarborough Bluffs in Guildwood, and most of central Etobicoke, such as Humber Valley Village, and The Kingsway. One of largest and earliest "planned communities" was Don Mills, parts of which were first built in the 1950s. Phased development, mixing single-detached housing with higher-density apartment blocks, became more popular as a suburban model of development. Over the late 20th century and early 21st century, North York City Centre, Etobicoke City Centre and Scarborough City Centre have emerged as secondary business districts outside Downtown Toronto. High-rise development in these areas has given the former municipalities distinguishable skylines of their own with high-density transit corridors serving them.
Toronto | Suburbs
Toronto is a major rail transportation hub in Canada and central North America, with most commercial rail freight operations carried out by two Class I railways, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway. Both companies operate major yards and intermodal facilities in various parts of Toronto to serve manufacturing and logistics customers. Although at one time, both railways saw most of their operations based out of the waterfront area, over time they have shifted to facilities in suburban Toronto or adjacent municipalities. Most waterfront trackage has been scaled back and abandoned in favour of real-estate development, with the remaining main lines in this area being almost the exclusive domain of passenger carriers.
Transportation in Toronto | Railways
In 1874, extensions were made, and new cars were ordered. New lines were added until the 30-year franchise expired on March 26, 1891. The City operated the system briefly, but soon elected to pass on the rights to a new company, the Toronto Railway Company on September 1, 1891 for another thirty years under James Ross and William Mackenzie.
Public transportation in Toronto | Toronto Street Railway (1861–1891)
Toronto is located on a crossroads dating back to aboriginal times with excellent harbours with many rivers. The economy grew based on the settlement of Ontario. During the late 19th century, Toronto became the centre of railways and the supplier of goods to Ontario. Its status as a political centre gave it some stability during periods of economic uncertainty. Toronto saw a large boom after World War II when immigrants, especially from war-decimated Europe, chose the area to settle. Manufacturing, notably automotive manufacturing, grew to supply the growth in population. Toronto grew at a faster rate than the other great centre of Canada at the time, Montreal, and surpassed it in the 1970s.
Economy of Toronto | History
Although the Georgian style had long been out of favour in the United States, it remained popular in Toronto, with residents hesitant to adopt early American architectural styles. In Loyalist-dominated Upper Canada, the style was embraced with fervour in part because of its British connections. Incongruously, it had also fallen out of fashion in Britain by this time, where it was considered outmoded, but in Toronto, it remained popular until the 1850s. When the Colonial revival was embraced in the United States in the 1890s, Georgian architecture also returned to Toronto. Structures continue to be built in the style today.
Architecture of Toronto | Nineteenth century
Buses are a large part of TTC operations today. However, before about 1960, they played a minor role compared to streetcars. Buses began to operate in the city in 1921, and became necessary for areas without streetcar service. After an earlier experiment in the 1920s, trolley buses were used on a number of routes starting in 1947, but all trolley bus routes were converted to bus operation between 1991 and 1993. The TTC always used the term "trolley coach" to refer to its trackless electric vehicles. Hundreds of old buses have been replaced with the low-floor Orion VII, and the TTC has acquired many hybrid electric buses.
Toronto Transit Commission | Buses
To achieve such a goal Hamilton focused on removing its trolley car system and transforming its downtown street grid into a one-way network, while the city of Toronto formed a new regional government that incorporated its early suburbs with priorities set on expanding its highways into the downtown core and did so with the construction of the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway. Initially there existed very little controversy to the newly implemented urban policies but by the late 1960’s the mood of citizens had changed drastically. As highway routes were extended and urban streets converted into high-occupancy arterials the number of houses and business that required removal jumped dramatically.
Chateau Royale (Hamilton, Ontario) | Troublesome transit
As a result of the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, which requires all public transport services in Ontario to become accessible by 2025, the TTC began to make its streetcar system wheelchair accessible on August 31, 2014, when the first two new low-floor Flexity Outlook streetcars entered service on the 510 Spadina line. The new streetcars have also been used on the 509 Harbourfront since March 29, 2015, and on the 514 Cherry from June 19, 2016, until that route's decommissioning on October 7, 2018. They have also been in operation on the 512 St. Clair since September 3, 2017; the 504 King since January 7, 2018; the 501 Queen since January 6, 2019; the 508 Lake Shore since September 3, 2019; the 506 Carlton since October 13, 2019; the 505 Dundas since April 20, 2020; and the 503 Kingston Road since June 22, 2020.
Toronto Transit Commission accessibility | Streetcars
Streetcars or trolley(car)s (North American English for the European word "tram") were once the chief mode of public transit in hundreds of North American cities and towns. Most of the original urban streetcar systems were either dismantled in the mid-20th century or converted to other modes of operation, such as light rail. Today, only Toronto still operates a streetcar network essentially unchanged in layout and mode of operation. Older surviving lines and systems in Boston, Cleveland, Mexico City, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco were often infrastructure-heavy systems with tunnels, dedicated right-of-way, and long travel distances, or have largely rebuilt their streetcar systems as light rail systems.
Streetcars in North America | Introduction
Since the late 2000s, the Toronto-Niagara Bike Train Initiative has helped connect Toronto cyclists with Niagara Region bike trails via Via Rail.
Transportation in Toronto | Cycling
Accessibility for people with disabilities on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) system is incomplete but improving. Most of the Toronto subway system was built before wheelchair access was a requirement under the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA). However, all subway stations built since 1996 are equipped with elevators, and elevators have been installed in 30 stations built before 1996, including 1 station that was expanded in 2002, ). Two-thirds (50 of 75) of Toronto's subway stations are accessible. In 2014, the TTC began introducing new low-floor vehicles on its streetcar network. These accessible vehicles ultimately replaced the ageing, non-accessible Canadian and Articulated Light Rail Vehicle streetcars by December 29, 2019.
Toronto Transit Commission accessibility | Introduction
By the 1940s, urban development extended past the City of Toronto's borders. It was recognized within the planning department of the city that population growth would take place and that the farmlands outside of the City's border would be developed. In 1943, the City of Toronto Planning Board developed a plan for the area within a nine-mile radius of Yonge Street and Queen Street. It included a network of superhighways that included the Spadina Expressway. In November 1947, the Toronto City Planning Board presented a plan to the City of Toronto Civic Work Committee for two new arterial roads: one along the lakeshore running east-west and another running north-south to the west of downtown.
Allen Road | 1943–61: Planning for the route
Toronto currently operates the largest streetcar system in the Americas in terms of track length and ridership. Operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, the streetcar system is the only large-scale streetcar system existing in Canada, excluding heritage streetcar, or light rail systems that are operated in other Canadian municipalities. The streetcar system was established in 1861, and used a variety of vehicles in its history, including horse-drawn streetcars, Peter Witt streetcars, the PCC streetcar, and the Canadian Light Rail Vehicle and its articulated counterpart, the Articulated Light Rail Vehicle. Since 29 December 2019, the system exclusively uses the Flexity Outlook made by Bombardier Transportation.
Tram | Canada
To this end, a reversible lane was built in the mid-20th century along much of its length to allocate lanes. As well, Mount Pleasant Road was extended south to Jarvis and an intersection to the Gardiner Expressway was constructed. The City of Toronto initiated a redevelopment of the street in the early 2000s that widened sidewalks, added cycling lanes and removed the reversible lane. After less than two years, a subsequent City government removed the cycling lanes to nearby Sherbourne Street and the reversible lane was reinstated.
Jarvis Street | Introduction
Population density increased with the building of numerous apartment buildings. Jameson Avenue, which became the conduit to the highway changed from single family homes to a street of apartment buildings, many cheaply built. Nearby, many of the mansions and large houses became makeshift low-rise 'bachelorette' apartment buildings and rooming houses. Several had operated as tourist hotels for visitors to Sunnyside and the CNE. Industrial activity declined along the railways. One former industrial site on West Lodge Avenue became a two-tower apartment complex that has repeatedly been cited by the City for various by-law infractions. Businesses suffered during the transition, with leisure-type businesses compatible with the Park, such as the Brighton and Odeon theatres closing.
Parkdale, Toronto | 1950s-1970s: Gardiner Expressway and urban changes
Toronto grew extensively during the 1960s and 1970s, and like many cities in North America, most of this growth was in the suburbs. In order to move workers to and from the business and industrial areas in the city centre, an extensive series of expressways was planned, and made its way into the city's Official Plan in 1966. As work on the new highways started, a wave of public protest followed as many houses, and in some cases entire neighbourhoods, were bulldozed to make way. The work became increasingly opposed in Toronto, especially after the cause was taken up by famous urban commentator, Jane Jacobs.
Urban Transportation Development Corporation | Genesis
During the 1950s, Toronto experienced the same sort of urban sprawl that was sweeping through the United States. Suburbs grew along existing highway corridors, stretching the city east and west, and then northward along the various provincial superhighways. These highways ended at the city limits, however, and there was little route capacity within the city itself. This caused enormous traffic problems within the city, and a network of new highways to address the problem became part of the Official Plan in 1959. As construction of the network started, the mood of the citizens changed. By the mid-1960s, there was a growing awareness that the growth of the suburbs led to a flight of capital from the city cores, resulting in the urban decay being seen throughout the US.
Highway revolt | Toronto
Transportation in Toronto
Outline of Toronto | Transportation in Toronto
About 1954, a separate trolley bus division created at the old Eglinton garage (adjacent to Eglinton station) to serve routes on Yonge Street, Avenue Road and Mount Pleasant Road north of Eglinton Avenue. When the Yonge–University subway was extended to York Mills station, the Yonge trolley bus line was closed and its buses were reassigned to serve Bay Street. In the early 1970s, the trolley bus fleet was rebuilt. The TTC leased some trolley buses from Edmonton, which was phasing out its fleet. The last trolley buses ran in 1993 on the Bay and Annette routes. Rather than replacing the aging trolley bus infrastructure, the TTC decided to use CNG buses to replace the trolley bus fleet.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system | 19th and 20th centuries
Most of the country's streetcar systems disappeared after World War II, giving way to buses: Toronto's system grew with the abandonment of streetcar operations in the United States and the rest of Canada, as the Toronto Transit Commission purchased cars from many former operators. The Toronto system grew to become the largest streetcar system in the Americas. During the late 20th century, several cities installed light rail systems (partially along the same corridors as the streetcars). Some have restored their old streetcars and run them as a heritage ride for tourists; an example is the Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway.
Tram and light rail transit systems | Canada
The city of Toronto originally formed as a result of its good harbour, and the port was the source of the city's prosperity for most of its early history. The oldest parts of the city are thus by the harbour, with newer growth spreading out in all directions possible. Around the harbour grew up a belt of industrial structures, especially just east and west of downtown. These included massive facilities such as Gooderham and Worts whiskey distillery and Massey Ferguson's farm equipment factories. In the later half of the nineteenth century, the railways became Toronto's main connection with the outside world, and further industrial areas grew up around the freight lines, in areas such as Weston and East York.
Architecture of Toronto | Industrial architecture
In the early 20th Century, the internal combustion engine then made the next step forward for modern travel with the proliferation of automobiles, aircraft, and even "flying saucers" to come.
The Romance of Transportation in Canada | Synopsis
Over time suburban houses have grown in size and moved away from the simplistic post-war designs embracing the neo-eclectic style. Toronto suburbs are different in character than those of other North American cities. During the 1960s and 1970s, city planners tried to curb sprawl by encouraging high population density in the suburbs, with many modernist "Tower in the Park" style apartment complexes scattered across the suburbs, with several Toronto boroughs working to build their own central business districts and move beyond being bedroom suburbs to being centres of business and industry as well. This has had mixed results; this policy has made Toronto overall denser than most other North American cities, which has reduced sprawl and made it easier to provide city services such as mass transit.
Architecture of Toronto | Rise of the suburbs
There are light rail systems in four cities – the Calgary CTrain, the Edmonton LRT, the Ottawa O-Train, and Waterloo Region's Ion – while Toronto has an extensive streetcar system. The 2016 Canada's Core Public Infrastructure Survey from Statistics Canada found that all of Canada's 247 streetcars were owned by the City of Toronto. The vast majority (87.9%) of these streetcars were purchased from 1970 to 1999, while 12.1% were purchased in 2016. Reflecting the age of the streetcars, 88.0% were reported to be in very poor condition, while 12.0% were reported to be in good condition.
Transportation in Canada | Light rail systems
Coal gas public street lighting systems were introduced in Montreal in 1838, in Toronto in 1841, and in Halifax in 1850. Horse-drawn street rail coaches for public transport were introduced in large Canadian cities about his time. In Montreal the Montreal City Passenger Railway Company, formed in 1861, offered horse car service from 1861 to 1891 when it was replaced by electric streetcar service. Horse car service began in Toronto in 1861 as well and was offered by the Toronto Street Railways until 1892, when it was also replaced by electric streetcar service. The technology of incarceration was refined during these years.
Technological and industrial history of Canada | Public works, water, civil engineering and architecture
Construction of the PATH tunnel north from Scotia Plaza through the Bay Adelaide Centre started in fall 2007. Completion of this section closed the last remaining gap in the north-south route through PATH that parallels Yonge Street, thus eliminating the need to double back from Bay Street to get between buildings located on the eastern edge of PATH. In 2011, the City of Toronto released a long-term expansion plan for the PATH, developed by Urban Strategies Inc. As part of the expansion plan there will be 45 new entry points, and the walkway expanded to as long as 60 kilometres when changes are completed.
PATH (Toronto) | 21st century