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Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west Arterial road in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the western limits of Mississauga, as a continuation of Lower Baseline in Milton. It traverses the midsection of both cities and ends at Kingston Road. Eglinton Avenue is the only street to cross all six former cities and boroughs of Metropolitan Toronto.
The Toronto section was surveyed in the 19th century as the Fourth Concession Road (with the first being Queen Street). It was historically known as Richview Sideroad in Etobicoke and Lower Baseline in Mississauga. It was also designated Highway 5A (and later Highway 109) in Scarborough.
The wagon trail connecting to Yonge Street between the third and fifth concessions (St. Clair and respectively) soon adopted the name of the village and was gradually improved over the years near Yonge Street. In 1890, the area was incorporated as North Toronto, and in 1912, it was annexed to Toronto itself. In 1953, Metropolitan Toronto (commonly known as Metro) was formed. Seeking to build new connections to the rapidly developing suburbs, Metro widened and interconnected Eglinton Avenue to its current form through the decade. The eastern segment through Scarborough was known as Highway 5A between 1937 and 1953; this number also appeared on St. Clair Avenue West until 1952 when the Toronto Bypass, (the precursor to Highway 401), opened between Weston and Highway 11 (Yonge Street). The two pieces of "Highway 5A" were never connected. In 1953, what remained was renumbered as Highway 109; a year later, the road was removed from the provincial highway system. Because of its time as a provincial highway, the road through Scarborough was widened considerably. A right of way was also acquired to bridge the gap in Eglinton Avenue. Until the mid-1950s, Eglinton Avenue did not cross either of the valleys of the Don River. The road ended at Brentcliffe Road (unassigned path beyond Laird Drive towards Brentcliffe Road and the dump was once site of hangar for Leaside Aerodrome) and resumed at Victoria Park Avenue (then known as Dawes Road). This break resulted in a bypassed eastern stub at Bermondsey Road signed as Old Eglinton Avenue. The Department of Highways relinquished control of Highway 109 to the newly formed Metro government. Metro built the new section of Eglinton Avenue, first between Dawes Road and Don Mills Road in 1955, and later between Don Mills Road and Leaside in 1956.
In the west, the street ended at the Humber River until 1970. On the opposite side in Etobicoke, the Richview Sideroad followed the same alignment as far as the Metro Toronto–Peel boundary. That year, the river was bridged to connect the Richview Sideroad segment as an extension of Eglinton Avenue. At about the same time, when the Highways 401 and 427 interchange was reconstructed, the street was connected to Lower Base Line, extending the street even further west into Mississauga. West of Mississauga, in the Regional Municipality of Halton, it is a rural road and is still named Lower Base Line (the corresponding Upper Base Line being present-day Steeles Avenue).
The structure over the Richmond Hill line and East Don River is known as the Harvey C. Rose Bridge, and honours the chief engineer of the Toronto and York Roads Commission, later the Metropolitan Toronto Commission of Roads. Annual Report, Department of Highways. 1956.
In Toronto, the right-of-way to construct the Richview Expressway remains but in the face of Highway revolt the project has never come to fruition. The only built part of the proposed Expressway are high-speed ramps from Eglinton Avenue to Highways 401 and 427 at a massive interchange near Renforth station. At a signalized intersection this results in westbound Eglinton traffic defaulting to the on-ramps for 401 and 427 as drivers wishing to continue on the Eglinton routing have to make a left-turn.
Eglinton Avenue is one of the few east–west routes north of Bloor Street that cross Toronto uninterrupted in a more or less straight line across the city. Eglinton Avenue was also the only street to cross all six of the municipalities that eventually amalgamated to form Metro Toronto: East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Old Toronto, and York. The section between the Etobicoke Creek and Renforth Drive forms part of the city limits of Toronto and Mississauga.
In Mississauga, MiWay route 35 Eglinton serves most of the street corridor within the city, while routes 7 Airport, 9 Rathburn, 68 Terry Fox, and 74 Explorer also serve some sections of the road.
(at [[Allen Road]]), Eglinton (at [[Yonge Street]]), and Kennedy (at the eastern terminus of Line 2 Bloor–Danforth) stations of the [[Toronto subway]] system are located on Eglinton, where the respective lines cross it.
In Mississauga, a portion of the Mississauga Transitway, a grade-separated bus rapid transit line, follows Eglinton Avenue stopping at: Etobicoke Creek, Spectrum station, Orbitor station and Renforth station stations, with Renforth being the transitway's eastern terminus. All of these stations are located at the Airport Corporate Centre at the east end of Mississauga, just south of Toronto Pearson International Airport. Renforth Station is a terminal hub for TTC, GO Transit, and MiWay buses; while the other three are exclusively served by MiWay.
The Eglinton Crosstown LRT was unveiled as part of the TTC's Transit City light rail expansion program in 2007, which proposed an underground line to run from Jane Street to Laird Drive, with above ground sections running to Pearson International Airport in the west and to Kennedy station in Scarborough in the east. The provincial government's MoveOntario 2020 capital funding announcement in June 2007 funded the line.
Toronto mayor Rob Ford announced the cancellation of Transit City on the day that he took office. Mayor Rob Ford: “Transit City is over” Toronto Life December 1, 2010 The redesigned Eglinton–Scarborough Crosstown line along with a Line 4 Sheppard extension was announced four months later, with the support of Metrolinx and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
The redesign put the Eglinton portion completely underground, integrated the Line 3 Scarborough portion (which has since been decommissioned due to age and the unavailability of new rolling stock), and would run contiguously from Black Creek Drive in the west to McCowan Road in the east. The redesign has since been shelved with construction plans reverting to the original design.
The initial implementation of the redesign would be carried out with the reconstruction at Crosstown line station locations that would be funded as part of the Crosstown line project. Reconstruction between stations will be funded by the city and is proposed to be carried out after completion of the Crosstown line so that it does not interfere with the Metrolinx construction activity.
A planning process called Eglinton Connects drew on public consultation to evaluate options for the redesign.
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