Talk:St. Clair Avenue

Corso Italia

I added Corso Italia to the list of main neighbourhoods, since it's the centre (or at least one of the main centres) of Toronto's Italian community. I also deleted Dovercourt because this community is farther south, at Bloor rather than on St. Clair. Also it doesn't seem to be a "major" neighbourhood. Perhaps Hilcrest Village could be added (or replace Oakwood) since this seems to be the most common name for the stretch between Bathurst and Oakwood.--Stetson 04:13, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Vale of Avoca

The article currently reads: "The construction of the Vale of Avoca through the first half of the 1920s prompted the new Toronto Transit Commission to extend the St. Clair streetcar line east to Mount Pleasant Road"

Should this say "the Vale of Avoca bridge"? The Vale of Avoca is the ravine itself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.151.170.240 (talk) 13:15, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

From all the documents I've read (at Deer Park Library essentially), the bridge has the same name. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ ^τ _¢ 14:12, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

I replied on the Vale of Avoca page. WillNL (talk) 17:27, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

St. Clare`s/Berm

St. Alphonsus went up about the same time as St. Clare`s. Is there a reference for S. CLare's being the first Roman Catholic church?

I will provide a reference for the berm collapsing. Have to re-learn reference format.

John FitzGerald 12 March 2012

The reference I found for the berm collapsing (the source I intended to use didn't have the information I thought it had) for the berm collapsing is not a reference work, but is illustrated by dated photos from the Toronto Archives. John FitzGerald 12 March 2012

Highway 5A

From 1937 to 1953, St. Clair West formed part of provincial Highway 5A, providing an alternate route between Islington and Yonge Street that avoided the congestion of Bloor Street. By 1954, St. Clair was developed enough that it no longer served a provincial role. The Highway 5A designation was transferred to the section of Eglinton Avenue through Scarborough in 1954

This looks erroneous; some road in Scarborough can't serve as a bypass for some avenue in the west end as they're on opposite sides of town. There is a Highway 5A page on thekingshighway.ca which claims both roads (Eglinton in Scarborough, St. Clair west of Yonge) had the 5A designator at the same time and both lost this connecting link status in 1953 or 1954. Perhaps the province being busy constructing some other Toronto Bypass road at the time (which ultimately also proved to be an inevitably-futile waste of time as Toronto merely sprawled to choke it too) could have been a factor, dunno? 1953 *would* have been about the right era for someone in Queen's Park to actually think an east-west road between Sheppard and York Mills could succeed in bypassing Toronto when Ontario Highway 5A had failed to do so (or, for that matter, Ontario Highway 5 as the one previous attempt to bypass Ontario Highway 2 only to end up just as jammed with Toronto-local traffic). 66.102.83.61 (talk) 18:38, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

I believe the province constructed the missing link in Eglinton between Victoria Park and Leaside, and that was the reason it was uploaded as a provincial highway (can't backup that last bit though), bypassing Hwy 5/2 around Birchmount/Cliffside along Dawes and Eglinton. In 1954, Metro Toronto was formed and they took over all of the highways that followed the arterial road network (2, 5, 11, 11A and 5A/109), except 27. According to the 1954 Annual Report, Eglinton was entirely decommissioned as a provincial highway. However, the 1955 or 1956 report shows the bridge commemorates the completion of the bridge over the East Don River as a joint Metro/Provincial venture. The province is also responsible for the wide right-of-way along Eglinton through Scarborough. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ ^τ _¢ 19:42, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

On the official provincial maps, 1946 has St. Clair W. as '5A' and no provincial designation on Eglinton E. In 1948 St. Clair W. remains '5A'and Eglinton E. is also marked red as a connecting link in the King's Highway system. By 1952 the '5A' designation is gone from St. Clair W. while Eglinton E. is still a connecting link; this coincides with some sort of bypass road first appearing as "under construction" between Weston and Hwy 11 in York Mills. That small piece of the Toronto Bypass is open by 1953, the same year the 109 designator appears on Eglinton E. and the year Metro Toronto splits from York County. In 1954 the remaining Toronto Bypass sections (Hwy 27 to Weston, Hwy 11 to Scarborough) are still under construction and 109 is still Eglinton E. Ontario Highway 2 becomes four-lane east of Kennedy Road. By 1956, with the Eglinton/Don Valley bridge only half-built and the Toronto Bypass only complete as far east as Bayview Avenue, "109" has been wiped from the map, never to return to Toronto ("5A" is at this point long gone, as 401-27-ER is continuous from Bayview Ave westward to Hamilton). By 1958, the section of freeway is complete as QEW-27-401 as far as Bowmanville.

It would appear that the western '5A' is gone first because the construction of the new bypass is done largely west-to-east, rendering the approach of attempting to bypass highway congestion on one surface street by going to the next surface street (with the same obstacles) obsolete.

The claim that The Highway 5A designation was transferred to the section of Eglinton Avenue through Scarborough in 1954 is nonsense. Eglinton would have already been renumbered away from '5A' to '109' by then and the St. Clair W. alternate for 5/5A rendered pointless by the Toronto Bypass in Weston. 66.102.83.61 (talk) 04:46, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

This is one of the reasons I only like to use thekingshighway.ca as a starting point, but do my own research through the reports and in the archives. Its not the first time an error has appeared. I wouldn't necessarily say that the red on the maps means they are connecting links, necessarily; just major through roads. Planning for the Toronto Bypass began around 1949, and it was opened from Weston to Yonge in early 1952, so it makes sense that all these other transfers were taking place in that narrow period. January 11, 1954 is the date (IIRC) that Metro took over everything. I'll have to go through the 1952-1956 reports again to double check everything - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ ^τ _¢ 06:26, 14 March 2012 (UTC)