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| York Regional Road 38 | |||||||
 Southward aerial view of Bathurst Street from nearCasa Loma | |||||||
 Bathurst Street through Toronto and York Region | |||||||
| Maintained by | City of Toronto York Region Town ofEast Gwillimbury | ||||||
| Length | 57.4 km (35.7 mi)[1][2] | ||||||
| Location | Toronto,Vaughan,Richmond Hill,King,Aurora,Newmarket,East Gwillimbury | ||||||
| South end | Queens Quay (continues as Eireann Quay, which leads to the ferry dock for Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport) | ||||||
| Major junctions | Lake Shore Boulevard King Street Queen Street Dundas Street Bloor Street St. Clair Avenue Eglinton Avenue Lawrence Avenue  Highway 401Sheppard Avenue Finch Avenue Steeles Avenue  Highway 407 Highway 7 Rutherford Road / Carrville Road Major Mackenzie Drive King Road Bloomington Road Wellington Street St. John’s Sideroad Mulock Drive Davis Drive Green Lane FormerHighway 11 | ||||||
| North end | Holland Marsh | ||||||
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Bathurst Street is a main north–south arterial road inToronto, Ontario, Canada. It begins at an intersection of theQueens Quay roadway, just north of theLake Ontario shoreline. It continues north through Toronto to the Toronto boundary atSteeles Avenue. It is a four-lane thoroughfare throughout Toronto. The street continues north intoYork Region where it is also designatedYork Regional Road 38, and ends in theHolland Marsh.
Bathurst Street begins in the south at the intersection with Queens Quay. The southernmost part of Bathurst, south of theGardiner Expressway, was heavily industrialized until the 1970s. These factories are now gone; in their place, some residential condominium development has occurred, including the extended Queen's Quay. South of the intersection, Eireann Quay, a former section of Bathurst Street, runs south to the ferry dock for theBilly Bishop Toronto City Airport on the island and the Western Gap channel which separates theToronto Islands from the Toronto mainland.
North of the Gardiner isFort York on the western side. TheSir Isaac Brock Bridge then carries the street across theUnion Station Rail Corridor toFront Street. The bridge was relocated here in 1916, after being used as a railway bridge over theHumber River. North of the tracks, the area is a mix of small commercial and residential buildings on the western fringe of downtown. North of Queen Street, the eastern side of Bathurst is the edge of the Alexandria Park cluster of housing projects, while to the west is theTrinity-Bellwoods residential neighbourhood. North ofDundas Street, Bathurst is dominated byToronto Western Hospital on the east. This part of the street continues to be a mix of small commercial establishments and residential housing, generally rental apartments.
North ofCollege Street, Bathurst Street becomes more residential, with the exception of certain areas, chiefly around the intersections withBloor Street,St. Clair Avenue, andEglinton Avenue. For a short distance north of Bloor, Bathurst is the western boundary ofThe Annex neighbourhood.
The University segment ofToronto Transit Commission (TTC)Line 1 Yonge–University crosses underneath Bathurst north of St. Clair, with the St. Clair West station at St. Clair just east of Bathurst. North of Eglinton, the street continues as a four-lane arterial road into the former borough of North York. Development along both sides of the road is both residential and commercial, with shopping plazas at many intersections. The West Branch of the Don River crosses Bathurst Street north of Sheppard and Bathurst Park (Hinder Property) is on the east side of Bathurst Street.
North ofSteeles Avenue, Bathurst runs throughYork Region, and is also referred to as York Regional Road 38. At Steeles, Bathurst briefly widens to six lanes until passing under the CN York subdivision. A dedicatedbus rapid transit facility, theHighway 7 Rapidway (bypassing a section of Highway 7), used byViva Orange buses, runs down the centre of the street between Centre Street and Highway 7. Bathurst again widens to six lanes from Highway 407 before going back to four lanes at Autumn Hill Boulevard. Bathurst is flanked by residential subdivisions on both sides from Steeles until Elgin Mills, where then only the eastern side has residential, forming a sharp urban-rural divide. Bathurst continues this way for 20 km until meeting Green Lane, where it narrows to two lanes and is flanked by rural land on both sides. After meeting formerHighway 11 (now York Regional Road 1), Bathurst Streets jogs for a bit until it enters Holland Landing, where it becomes a semi-rural residential road. Bathurst Street loses its Regional Road status at Queensville Sideroad, where it enters the Holland Marsh. It serves as the boundary betweenVaughan and Richmond Hill north ofHighway 407, and betweenKing Township andNewmarket andAurora.
Bathurst Street ends at theHolland Marsh, between Holland Landing (inEast Gwillimbury) andBradford, with the section north of Queensville Sideroad being maintained by the Town of East Gwillimbury. Beyond a marina on theHolland River, it continues as a private driveway to a property along the Holland Marsh.
Old Bathurst Street runs north of St John's Sideroad to 19th Sideroad where Bathurst Street was re-routed.
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The street was named forHenry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, who organized migration from the British Isles to Canada after the War of 1812, granted the charter toUniversity of Toronto (then known as King's College). He also never visited Canada.[3]
The original Bathurst Street was between Government Wharf andQueen Street, and the section to the north was called Crookshank's Lane, a semi-private lane named after George Crookshank.[4] The intersection with Davenport was the site of Toll Gate #3 along Davenport. The tollkeeper's cottage, which was built in 1835, still exists, restored to its original appearance and is located at the north-west corner of the intersection. In 1870, Crookshank's Lane was renamed "Bathurst Street". North of Bloor, Bathurst Street was a muddy trail.[3]
Prior to the late 1980s, the section of Bathurst St. between Centre Street andLangstaff Road / York Regional Road 7 (the latter formerlyHighway 7), was a part of Highway 7, which followed it as the highway jogged betweenconcession roads. The jog along Bathurst was eliminated when a diagonal connector was built to the west to join the two sections of the highway as a single roadway.
Bathurst Street finished in the top 10 inCanadian Automobile Association's "Ontario's Worst Roads" poll in every year from 2004 to 2007.[5][6]
Bathurst was formerly interrupted for roughly 500 m due to rugged terrain north of Morning Sideroad, northwest of Newmarket, but the gap was closed in 2016 when a new link was completed to York Regional Road 1 (formerHighway 11).[7]
Bathurst Street has been the heart of theJewish community of Toronto for decades.[8] From the early part of the 20th century, many Jews lived around Bathurst Street south of Bloor Street east toSpadina Avenue (and particularlyKensington Market) and west to pastChristie Pits. After World War II, as the community became more middle class, it moved north along Bathurst Street, with wealthier members of the community moving toForest Hill. Some other members moved to the area around Bathurst andSt. Clair Avenue or Bathurst andEglinton Avenue.[9]
The community continued to move north along Bathurst and today, much of the Jewish community resides along the street from north ofSt. Clair Avenue and, in higher concentrations just south ofLawrence Avenue to beyond the city limits at Steeles Avenue, and extending further until aboutElgin Mills Road inRichmond Hill.[10] Manysynagogues and other Jewish community institutions are on Bathurst.
The northern stretch of Bathurst, north ofSheppard Avenue West, has become one of the centres of Toronto's Russian community. Many Russian Jewish immigrants began to settle in the area's apartment buildings (many are around the Bathurst/Sheppard intersection, and along Bathurst betweenFinch Avenue West and Steeles Avenue West),[11] starting from early 1970s to get easier access to services provided by theJewish Immigrant Aid Society. After the breakup of theSoviet Union, many Russian immigrants to Canada settled there. Many are affiliated with the Jewish Russian Community Centre.[12] The electoral district ofYork Centre, which includes Bathurst from Wilson Ave. to Steeles Ave. West, has the largest number ofRussian Canadian voters in Canada. Numerous Russian delicatessens, restaurants, and book and clothing stores have earned the neighborhood the unofficial moniker "Little Moscow".[13]
Bathurst Station is aToronto Transit Commission subway station at Bathurst Street andBloor Street alongLine 2 Bloor–Danforth. The511 Bathurststreetcar route runs from Bloor to Fleet Street, where it turns to connect toExhibition Place.[14]
North of Bathurst Station, public transit is provided by two bus routes: route 7 Bathurst from Bathurst Station up toSteeles Avenue West, and 160 Bathurst North fromWilson Avenue up to New Westminster Drive and Atkinson Avenue inVaughan. During overnight hours when the subway is closed, the bus route 307 BathurstBlue Night covers the entire length of Bathurst within the city of Toronto.
Within Vaughan,York Region Transit runs several routes along Bathurst Street, including the 88 Bathurst fromFinch Bus Terminal toSeneca College King Campus,[15] part ofViva Orange, and other connections at thePromenade Terminal.
For many years, the most notable attraction on Bathurst Street was the now-demolished bargain goods emporiumHonest Ed's atBloor Street. Other landmarks along Bathurst include:
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43°40′27″N79°24′53″W / 43.6742°N 79.4147°W /43.6742; -79.4147