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 Danforth Avenue near Greektown in 2022 | |||||||
 Map of Danforth Avenue (Red) and Danforth Road (Green) within Toronto | |||||||
| Maintained by | City of Toronto | ||||||
| Length | 9.2 km (5.7 mi)[1] | ||||||
| Location | Toronto | ||||||
| West end | Don River (Continues asBloor Street) | ||||||
| Major junctions | Broadview Avenue Pape Avenue Donlands Avenue Coxwell Avenue Woodbine Avenue Warden Avenue Birchmount Road Kennedy Road Victoria Park Avenue Danforth Road Warden Avenue Birchmount Road | ||||||
| East end | Kingston Road | ||||||
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Danforth Avenue (informally also known asthe Danforth) andDanforth Road are two historically-related arterial streets inToronto, Ontario, Canada. DanforthAvenue is an east-west street that begins inOld Toronto at thePrince Edward Viaduct as a physical continuation ofBloor Street and continues for about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east through old Toronto, about 350 metres (1,150 ft) of old East York, and a further 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) inScarborough until it intersects withKingston Road via a rampedinterchange. DanforthRoad splits off the Avenue west ofWarden Avenue and runs diagonally northeast until south ofLawrence Avenue, where it continues asMcCowan Road.
Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of theToronto subway runs just north of Danforth Avenue from theDon River as far asMain Street station, before gradually veering north as it heads east.
Danforth Road was named for American contractorAsa Danforth Jr., who built portions of what would becomeQueen Street andKingston Road. He started work in 1799 onDanforth's Road as (originally) a hundred-mile route from Scarborough to theTrent River. That road was completed in 1801, but soon fell into disrepair and was largely replaced by the 1817Kingston Roadstagecoach route.
Before being named Danforth Avenue, maps referred to it as Concession Line Road.
Danforth Avenue, named because it was created to connect Toronto to Danforth Road, was officially built by the Don and Danforth Plank Road Company in 1851 toBroadview Avenue, as well as connecting to Kingston Road.
InScarborough, Danforth Road connects Danforth Avenue withMcCowan Road. It is possible, therefore, to stand at the intersection of "Danforth and Danforth", i.e. Danforth Avenue and Danforth Road. Local references, therefore, are careful to note whether it is the Avenue or the Road being referred to—although the term "the Danforth" always refers to Danforth Avenue, and never to Danforth Road.
Warden Avenue andBirchmount Road in Scarborough are two of the four routes to intersect with both Danforth Avenue and Danforth Road (the others being residential Scotia and Medford avenues). With other routes, the distinction is unnecessary; for example, "Victoria Park and Danforth" means Danforth Avenue, while "Kennedy and Danforth" mean Danforth Road.
Previously, Danforth Road continued around theHighland Creek along local residential roadways now known as:
The west end of Danforth Ave. spans theDon River valley, theDon Valley Parkway andBayview Avenue via thePrince Edward Viaduct. West of that bridge, the street continues asBloor Street.
Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of theToronto subway system runs parallel to most of the road's route, offset to the north some 50 metres (160 ft). The subway follows Danforth from the Viaduct west ofBroadview Station toMain Street station.Danforth GO Station, just off Main Street, takes its name from the avenue, where the commuter rail line intersects with it, on theLakeshore East route. Danforth is served by theToronto Transit Commission bus system only east of Main Street Station.Routes 16 McCowan and 113 Danforth serve the road during the day and 302 Danforth-McCowanrun during the night.
Danforth Avenue was formerly designated asOntario Highway 5 from the Don River (atBloor Street) east toKingston Road. Like many urban stretches of provincial roadway, it was formally decommissioned as aConnecting Link on January 1, 1998.
On Christmas Eve 2001, theWoodbine Building Supply fire occurred. The hardware store was located at the intersection of Danforth andWoodbine Avenues. It was one of the biggest fires in Toronto's history, as 170 firefighters were required to bring thesix-alarm blaze under control. The building was less than 50 m (160 ft) from residences in the neighbourhood and more than fifty families had to evacuate their homes on Christmas morning. One person was killed and another was severely disfigured. Police and insurance quickly suspected arson and several people have since been convicted. The store's owners have since built a 12-storey condo building on the site.
There wasa shooting on the Danforth in July 2018.
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