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Don Valley Parkway

The Don Valley Parkway

The Don Valley Parkway was built as part of a grand plan initiated by then Metro Chair Fred Gardiner (for whom the Gardiner Expressway is named) in the 1950s to criss-cross the city with expressways. The highways plan was never completed primarily because of downtown objections to several of the expressway routes, leaving it and the Gardiner Expressway to carry the bulk of highway traffic into the core. The Don Valley Parkway was completed from the Gardiner Expressway to Sheppard Avenue by 1966. Land was acquired to extend the Parkway north to Steeles Avenue alongside what was then Woodbine Avenue which continued from the north end of the Parkway.

North of Highway 401, Metropolitan Toronto had initially intended to extend the DVP north past Sheppard Avenue to Steeles Avenue at the northern Metropolitan boundary, which would then continue north in York Region as a Provincial Highway 404. In 1975, the Province decided that they wanted their then-proposed Highway 404 to connect to Highway 401 instead of going only to the Metropolitan boundary at Steeles Avenue. The Province took over the lands set aside for the Parkway extension and the completed section between Highway 401 and Sheppard Avenue and renamed all of it as part of Highway 404, which was completed to Steeles Avenue in 1977.

Although the DVP does not use exit numbers, Highway 404's exit numbers start at 17 (instead of 0) in order to account for the length of the DVP.

Construction Phases

Bayview Avenue/Bloor Street East to Eglinton Avenue East 1961
Eglinton Avenue East to Lawrence Avenue East 1963

Bloor Street East to Gardiner Expressway 1964

Lawrence Avenue East to Sheppard Avenue East 1966 - along with expansion of Highway 401 into a express-collector system

Sheppard Avenue East to Steeles Avenue East 1977 - now part of Provincial Highway 404

Traffic Congestion

The Don Valley Parkway is Toronto's busiest commuter route (along with the Gardiner Expressway), connecting the city to its northern and eastern suburbs via Highways 401 and 404. When construction of the DVP was completed in 1966, traffic volumes were much lower than today. In addition, most of the traffic from the east on the DVP was expected to be carried by the planned Scarborough Expressway, which was ultimately never built. Since the mid-1960s, the population of the suburbs has grown tremendously, and along with it heavy traffic on the DVP, resulting in frequent congestion; as a result, the freeway is not-so-affectionately nicknamed the "Don Valley Parking Lot."

The most congested section is between Eglinton Avenue and Highway 401, often well beyond rush hours, although the highway is sometimes congested along its whole length. This situation has not changed since the 1980s.

The interchange with Highway 401 is a serious bottleneck, due to only two through traffic lanes for northbound/southbound traffic and because of heavy four-way volumes. The worst jams occur southbound just past the junction with Highway 401, where two lanes and one HOV lane from Highway 404, two lanes from the 401 Westbound, and two lanes from the 401 Eastbound become four, and eventually three prior to the offramp at York Mills Road.

The 1960's conventional illumination, originally fluorescent, later remodelled into low pressure sodium in 1975, has been replaced by a combination of shaded high pressure sodium high-mast and low mast lighting since the early 2000's.

Traffic management on the DVP has improved with the installation of changeable message signs and overhead ('RESCU') cameras have been installed along the route, similar to the COMPASS system that the province uses on 400-Series Highways such as Highway 401 and the QEW. Concrete barrier walls are now used in the outer sections, as well dividing the south and north bound sections of the parkway. The inner sections continue to use steel guide-rails.

The Don Valley Parkway under construction north of Bloor Street in 1959

The newly-completed Don Valley Parkway looking north to its then northern end at Lawrence Avenue in 1963. It was extended to Sheppard Avenue three years later.

Views of the progress of construction of the Don Valley Parkway 1960 - 1967

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Click on the image below for a mosaic of construction of the Don Valley Parkway from 1960 to 1967

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The Don Valley Parkway at Lawrence Avenue            The Don Valley Parkway at Don Mills Road in 1969
in 1963 with very little traffic                                     still not much traffic yet

The north end of the Don Valley Parkway at Sheppard Avenue after 1967. It continued north as two-lane Woodbine Avenue. The right-of-way for a northern extension of the Don Valley Parkway was kept open by Toronto until it was taken over by the Province in 1975 and built as their Highway 404. This section of the Don Valley Parkway between Highway 401 and Sheppard Avenue was also taken over by the Province and incorporated into Highway 404, thus terminating the Parkway at the 401.

Views of the Don Valley Parkway from south to north

Photos courtesy of Michael Sgambelluri - Vintage Kings Highways http://www.vintagekingshighways.com/404.html

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Approaching the Gardiner Expressway looking south        At Gerrard Street looking north

Congested at Eglinton Avenue looking north               At York Mills Road looking north

At Highway 401 looking north                                    At Sheppard Avenue looking north (now Highway 404)

Expansion Plans

The Don Valley Parkway was originally designed and built as a four-lane expressway, and was subsequently expanded to six lanes in the 1980s when the grass median was replaced by an additional lane per direction and a concrete barrier.

As traffic volume has grown, plans have been floated several times to expand the highway further, add bus lanes or other alternative roadways, although no plans exist currently. There have also been calls to revive the Scarborough Expressway, which would divert much of the traffic that currently uses the Don Valley Parkway.

During the 2003 municipal election campaign, candidates openly debated expanding the highway, funded through the conversion of the highway to a tollway. Plans to reduce traffic have included Single Occupant Vehicle Tolls combined with Duo Occupancy Vehicle Tolls which are slightly lower than SOV. but this was rejected after fears that traffic would be diverted on already-congested parallel arterials such as Bayview Avenue and popular objections to toll highways.

Most recently, in 2004, the Canadian Automobile Association lobbied for a plan to expand the DVP, along with the construction of additional arterial roads to accommodate the traffic volumes. One such example is extending Leslie Street past Eglinton Avenue until it meets the DVP; Leslie Street has an interchange with Highway 401 while Don Mills does not.

On May 11, 2007, GO Transit had a plan to put dedicated bus lanes on the long shoulder lanes on the Don Valley Parkway, due to the long traffic congestion that the GO Buses go through each day as they travel on the Don Valley Parkway to Union Station. This plan would takes years to begin. Toronto officials have to do weight testing on the asphalt on the Don Valley Parkway and perform environmental assessments.

GO bus lanes in the shoulders

In May 2010, City of Toronto Council approved a plan to convert the median shoulder of the Don Valley Parkway, both northbound and southbound, from Lawrence Avenue to 458 metres north of York Mills Rd. where municipal jurisdiction ends and Provincial Highway 404 begins, into a dedicated GO Transit bus lane for times of traffic congestion. This was the first time that exclusive bus lanes were added to a municipal expressway in Toronto. Because the shoulder along that stretch was so wide, there would be no need for construction, only painting and installing signs. Because the shoulder was not open to the public, other Don Valley Parkway users would not be affected by the change, other than that they would not be able to stop easily on the inside lane in case of emergency. The idea behind the project was to get more people using public transit.

The GO buses would be allowed to use the dedicated lane only if traffic in the other lanes slows to 60 km/h or less, which was a common occurrence on the Don Valley Parkway north of Eglinton Avenue. Once in the lane, the buses would not be allowed to go faster than 20 km/h above the congested traffic. The GO bus lane went into operation in September 2010. At the same time, an environmental assessment had been initiated as part of a plan to widen the Don Valley Parkway shoulder from Pottery Road to Eglinton Avenue to make for another bus bypass lane, this time on the outside, or right shoulder in both directions. This would involve construction which would take between two and three years to implement.

GO bus on expressways. They would now use the shoulder of the Don Valley Parkway as their own lane to pass congested traffic during rush hour

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New low mast lighting at Queen Street New high mast lighting at Lawrence Avenue

Don Valley video:

View driving north on the Don Valley Parkway from the Gardiner Expressway to Highway 401

In 2010, the Don Valley Parkway north of Bloor Street was dedicated as part of the City's 'Route of Heroes' which was the route which bodies of Canadian service personnel killed in overseas conflicts were brought along to the coroner's office in downtown Toronto. This was the City's section of the Provincial 'Highway of Heroes' which was part of Highway 401. The memorial poppy used on Remembrance Day was added to some of the signs.

Memorial poppy added to the corner of the road sign along the City of Toronto's 'Route of Heroes' which included the Don Valley Parkway north of Bloor Street.