This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Yonge Street" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Yonge Street

York Regional Roads 1 / 51
Yonge Street (Toronto/York section)
Interactive map of Yonge Street
Maintained by	City of Toronto York Region Town ofEast Gwillimbury
Location	Toronto Vaughan Markham Richmond Hill Aurora Newmarket East Gwillimbury
South end	Queens Quay inToronto
Major junctions	King Street Queen Street Dundas Street Bloor Street St. Clair Avenue Eglinton Avenue Lawrence Avenue Wilson Avenue /York Mills Road  Highway 401 Sheppard Avenue Finch Avenue Steeles Avenue  Highway 407 Highway 7 Major Mackenzie Drive King Road Davis Drive FormerHighway 11 (bypass) Holland Landing Road
North end	Holland River
Construction
Inauguration	1794[2]
Nearby arterialroads in Toronto ←Bay Street Avenue Road Bathurst Street Jarvis Street Mount Pleasant Road Bayview Avenue →

Yonge Street (Extension)

Simcoe County Road 4
Yonge Street (Simcoe section)
Interactive map of Yonge Street (Extension)
Maintained by	Simcoe County City ofBarrie
Length	30 km (19 mi)[3]
Location	Barrie Bradford West Gwillimbury Innisfil Simcoe
South end	8th Line inBradford (continues south as Barrie Street)
Major junctions	Simcoe County Road 89 /Shore Acres Drive Innisfil Beach Road
North end	FormerCanadian National rail spur inBarrie (Continues as Burton Avenue)
Construction
Inauguration	1827
Nearby arterial roads ←Highway 400 20th Sideroad →

Yonge Street (/jʌŋ/YUNG) is a major arterial route in the Canadian province ofOntario connecting the shores ofLake Ontario inToronto toLake Simcoe, a gateway to theUpper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator,John Graves Simcoe, named the street for his friendSir George Yonge.

Once the southernmost leg of provincialHighway 11, linking the provincial capital withnorthern Ontario, Yonge Street has been referred to as "Main Street Ontario". Until 1999, theGuinness Book of World Records repeated the popular misconception that Yonge Street was 1,896 km (1,178 mi)^[4] long, making it the longest street in the world; this was due to a conflation of Yonge Street with the rest ofOntario's Highway 11. The street (including the Bradford-to-Barrie extension) is only 86 kilometres (53 mi) long.^[1][3] Due to provincial downgrading in the 1990s, no section of Yonge Street is marked as a provincial highway.

Its construction has been designated as anEvent of National Historic Significance in Canada.^[5] Yonge Street was integral to the original planning and settlement of westernUpper Canada in the 1790s, forming the basis of theconcession roads in Ontario today. In Toronto andYork Region, Yonge Street is the north–south baseline from which street numbering is reckoned east and west. The eastern branch of the subwayLine 1 Yonge–University serves nearly the entire length of the street in Toronto; it serves as the spine of theToronto subway system, linking to suburban commuter systems such as theViva BlueBRT. The street is a commercial main thoroughfare rather than a ceremonial one, with theDowntown Yonge shopping and entertainment district containing landmarks such as theEaton Centre andSankofa Square (the former Yonge-Dundas Square).

Yonge Street originates on the northern shore ofToronto Bay atQueens Quay as a four-lane arterial road (speed limit 40 km/h) proceeding north. Toronto'sHarbourfront is built on landfill extended into the bay. The former industrial area has been converted from port, rail and industrial uses to a dense, residential, high-rise community. Indeed, Canada's future tallest building,SkyTower at Pinnacle One Yonge, is located near the beginning of the street and has the address 1 Yonge Street. The elevatedGardiner Expressway and the congested rail lines of the Toronto railway viaduct on their approach toUnion Station pass over Yonge Street. The road rises slightly nearFront Street, marking the pre-landfill shoreline. Here, at the southern edge of thecentral business district, is theDominion Public Building, theMeridian Hall and theHockey Hall of Fame, the latter housed in a formerBank of Montreal office, once Canada's largest bank branch. Beyond Front Street, the road passes through the east side of theFinancial District, which holds many of Canada's tallest buildings, and passes an entrance to theAllen Lambert Galleria.

Between Front andQueen Streets, Yonge Street is bounded by historic and commercial buildings, many serving the large weekday workforce concentrated here. These include the flagship Toronto locations of theHudson's Bay Company andSaks Fifth Avenue, both in the historicSimpson's building. Yonge Street's entire west side, from Queen toDundas Streets, is occupied by theEaton Centre, a multi-storey indoor mall featuring shops along its Yonge Street frontage. The east side has two historic performance venues, theEd Mirvish Theatre (formerly the Canon Theatre and before that, the Pantages) and theElgin and Winter Garden Theatres. In addition,Massey Hall is just to the east on Shuter Street.

Opposite the north end of the Eaton Centre liesSankofa Square. The area now comprising the square was cleared of several small commercial buildings and redeveloped in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It has been outfitted with large video screens, and developed with retail shopping arcades, fountains and seating in a bid to become "Toronto'sTimes Square". It is the site of numerous public events.

Another stretch of busy retail lines both sides of Yonge Street north of Dundas Street. The density of businesses diminishes north ofGerrard Street; residential towers with some ground-floor commercial uses flank this section. TheArt DecoCollege Park building, a former shopping complex of theT. Eaton Company, occupies much of the west side of the street from Gerrard Street north toCollege Street. It was converted into a residential and commercial complex after the building of the Eaton Centre.

From College Street north toBloor Street, Yonge Street serves smaller street-level retail, mostly in two- to three-storey buildings of a hundred years' vintage. The businesses here, unlike the large chains that dominate south of Gerrard Street, are mostly small independent shops and serve a dense residential community on either side of Yonge Street.

The intersection of Yonge and Bloor streets is a major crossroads of Toronto, informally considered the northern edge of the downtown core.Subway Line 2 Bloor–Danforth intersects the Yonge line here, with the resulting transfers between lines makingBloor–Yonge station the busiest in the city. The northeast quadrant features theHudson's Bay Centre office and retail complex, including aHudson's Bay Company Hudson's Bay store. The northwest quadrant has theTwo Bloor West office tower. The southeast quadrant has a condominium tower constructed in the early 21st century, and the southwestern quadrant is being developed for a condominium:The One. TheMink Mile's borders extend from Yonge to Avenue Road along Bloor. The intersection of Yonge and Bloor streets is a "scramble"-type intersection, which allows pedestrians to cross from any corner to any other corner.

Immediately north of Bloor, the street is part of the old town ofYorkville, today a major shopping district extending west of Yonge Street along Cumberland and Bloor streets. North of Yorkville, densities and traffic decrease somewhat and the speed limit increases slightly (to 50 km/h, which it remains for most of its urban length) as Yonge Street forms the main street ofSummerhill, which together withRosedale to the east is noted for its opulent residences. The area is marked by the historicNorth Toronto railway station, formerly served by theCanadian Pacific Railway and now the location of aLiquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) store. The CPR route parallels the foot of theIroquois shoreline escarpment, which Yonge Street ascends here towardMidtown. Development along Yonge toSt. Clair Avenue is mostly two- and three-storey buildings with ground-floor commercial uses of varying types. South of St. Clair once stood the Deer Park carhouse for theMetropolitan Street Railway Metropolitan line. It was sold by theToronto Transportation Commission to the Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto in 1924 and mostly destroyed by a fire in 2017.

From approximatelySt. Clair Avenue to Yonge Boulevard, Yonge Street is central to the former suburb municipality ofNorth Toronto, now widely referred to asMidtown, which is divided into several local neighbourhoods. Yonge Street along this stretch features mixed low-scale residential, retail, and commercial buildings. Theintersection at Eglinton Avenue has become a focal point, serving as a high-density residential, commercial and transit hub. The site ofMontgomery's Tavern is nearby,^[6] the location ofa significant clash in theUpper Canada Rebellion and is marked as aNational Historic Site. The tavern was later replaced by the Postal Station K Building, now a podium for Montgomery Square condominium complex.

North of Yonge Boulevard, Yonge Street traverses the deep forested ravine of theWest Don Valley atHoggs Hollow, a formidable obstacle in pioneer days and the site of one of the last of the formertoll gates. The lower-density residential community and park-like setting here represent an interlude between North Toronto and the newer high-rise district beyond, towering over the valley. Canada's busiest section of highway (Highway 401) spans the valley via theHogg's Hollow Bridge (exit 369). Leaving the valley north of Highway 401, densities and traffic both significantly increase on enteringNorth York City Centre, the downtown core of the former suburban city ofNorth York. North York Centre features numerous residential and office towers, most with ground-floor commercial uses, with some stretches of older two-storey buildings, many slated for redevelopment. Slightly under halfway up Yonge Street from Sheppard to Finch on the west side is theNorth York Civic Centre complex and the adjacent North York Centre office and retail towers. These lands containMel Lastman Square, the actual North York district municipal offices, the North York Central Library and the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts. The street widens to a six-lane urban arterial road through North York Centre (although north of Sheppard Avenue the outer lanes are for parking outside of rush hours), passing inner-suburb transit hubs atSheppard andFinch Avenues.

From Finch Avenue toStouffville Road (acquiring theYork Regional Road 1 designation north of the Toronto city limits atSteeles Avenue inYork Region), Yonge Street is a suburban commercial strip, passingHighway 407 (exit 77) two kilometres north of Steeles. This 16.5-kilometre (10.3 mi) segment is a busy suburban arterial, interrupted by the original town centres of suburban communities such asThornhill (where the route crosses theEast Don Valley in the upper part of its watershed) andRichmond Hill. Various stretches of Yonge Street throughout this area contain residential high-rise buildings of varying ages, with some currently under development. Continuous urbanization ends just south of Stouffville Road, and the street passes through brief semi-ruralexurban stretches between Richmond Hill, Aurora,Newmarket, andHolland Landing, passing a number ofkettle lakes and traversing the crest of theOak Ridges Moraine, thence leaving the Lake Ontario basin. Yonge passes through the core of Aurora, and in theregional seat of Newmarket, Yonge serves as the town's main suburban artery, passing through low-density residential and commercial areas, bypassing its core to the west. North ofGreen Lane, Regional Road 1 deviates from the original baseline 56 km (35 mi) north of Lake Ontario, bypassing the centre of Holland Landing with a northwest heading and thereby circumnavigatingCook's Bay and the lowerHolland Marsh, through exurban areas en route toBradford. The bypass was constructed in 1959.

Regional Road 51 is the original route of the main section. Yonge Street branches off Regional Road 1 at the foot of thebypass to continue north through Holland Landing. This short section, known locally as theYonge Street Extension, is co-signed withRegional Road 13. At Queensville Side Road, the road breaks, and resumes again slightly to the west for 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) before it ends in the upper Holland Marsh with an unopened road clearance signed with trees next to the Silver Lakes Golf and Country Club.

Yonge resumes to the northwest in Bradford (reached via Regional Road 1), at a right turn at an intersection in downtown Bradford, where it is initially namedBarrie Street before the name Yonge resumes, roughly paralleling Lake Simcoe's western shore through rural countryside, traversing the rolling hills of southeastSimcoe County, and is signedSimcoe Road 4. The street officially ends in Barrie at arail spur, where its name changes toBurton Avenue at Garden Drive, which itself ends less than a kilometre from Kempenfelt Bay, at a T-intersection with Essa Road.

This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(December 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

With the outbreak of hostilities betweenFrance andGreat Britain in 1793, part of theWar of the First Coalition, theLieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (now Ontario),John Graves Simcoe, was concerned about the possibility of the United States enteringBritish North America in support of their French allies. In particular, the location of Newark (nowNiagara-on-the-Lake), the first and former capital of Upper Canada, was in danger of being attacked by the Americans from the nearby border. Additionally, U.S. forces could easily sever British access to theupper lakes atLake St. Clair or theDetroit River, cutting the colony off from the important trading post atMichilimackinac.

Simcoe planned to move the capital to a better-protected location and build overland routes to the upper lakes as soon as possible. He establishedYork, as Toronto was originally called, with itsnaturally enclosed harbour, as a defensible site for a new capital. To provide communications between the site and the upper lakes, he planned two connected roads, the first running north from York toLake Simcoe, (then namedLake aux Claies), the second joining Lake Simcoe withGeorgian Bay. This would allow overland transport to the upper lakes, bypassing U.S. strongholds. The route from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe is still known as Yonge Street, and the second leg to Georgian Bay was long known as thePenetanguishene Road.

Before the construction of Yonge Street, aportage route, theToronto Carrying-Place Trail, had already linked Lakes Ontario and Simcoe. On September 25, 1793, Simcoe and a small party of soldiers and native guides started northward along the trail, establishing the Pine Fort on the western branch of theHolland River, near the modern location ofBradford. Stopping only to rename Lake aux Claies "Lake Simcoe" in memory of his father, the party continued north toLake Couchiching, and then down theSevern River to Georgian Bay. Here he selected the site ofPenetanguishene as the location for a new naval base and port.

On his return, he met with anOjibway named 'Old Sail' and was shown a new route along another arm of the trail, this one starting on the eastern branch of the Holland River and thereby avoiding the marshes of the western branch (today'sHolland Marsh). They left Pine Fort on October 11 and reached York on the 15th. Simcoe selected this eastern route for his new road, moving the southern end from theRouge River to the western outskirts of the settled area in York, and the northern end to a proposed new town on the Holland River, St. Albans.^[7]

The road was actually called Concession 1 at first with Concessions 2 etc. on either side. For instance Concession 1 Whitchurch Township faces Yonge St. and goes east to Concession 2, which starts at Bayview Ave. Concession 1 King Township faces Yonge St. and goes west to Concession 2, which starts at Bathurst St. There are 10 concessions in York County going east and west from Concession 1, Yonge Street. The east side ending at then-Ontario County, now Durham Region, and the west side ending at Peel County (now Peel Region).

The following spring, Simcoe instructed Deputy Surveyor GeneralAugustus Jones to blaze a small trail marking the route.^[8][9]

Simcoe initiated construction of the road by granting land to settlers, who in exchange were required to clear 33 feet of frontage on the road passing theirlot. Certain seasons saw the muddy sidewalks of York in deplorable condition, and Yonge Street was renowned as being particularly bad, making it difficult to transport loads along it. The first Toronto resident known to have introduced sidewalks wasJesse Ketchum, who used tanned bark.^[10]

In the summer of 1794,William Berczy was the first to take up the offer, leading a group of 64 families northeast of Toronto to found the town ofGerman Mills, in modernMarkham. By the end of 1794, Berczy's settlers had cleared the route aroundThornhill. However, the settlement was hit by a series of setbacks and road construction stalled.

Work on the road started again in 1795 when theQueen's Rangers took over. They began their work atEglinton Avenue and proceeded north, reaching the site of St. Albans on 16 February 1796. Expansion of the trail into a road was a condition of settlement for farmers along the route, who were required to spend 12 days a year to clear the road of logs, subsequently removed by convicted drunks as part of their sentences. The southern end of the road was in use in the first decade of the 19th century, and became passable all the way to the northern end in 1816.^[11]

The road was extended south from Eglinton toBloor Street in 1796 by Berczy, who needed a route to his warehouse on the Toronto lakeshore. The area south of Bloor Street proved too swampy for a major road. A path did exist between Queen and Bloor Streets, but was called the "road to Yonge Street", rather than being considered part of the street itself due to its poor condition. Over time the creeks were rerouted and the swamps drained. In 1812 the route was extended from Queen Street to the harbour, and in 1828 the entire southern portion was solidified with gravel.^[12]

St. Albans never developed as Simcoe had hoped, but the town ofHolland Landing eventually grew up on the site, a somewhat more descriptive name. Holland Landing was settled byQuakers who moved into the area after having left the United States in the aftermath of theAmerican Revolution. The settlers were branching out from their initial town of "Upper Yonge Street", which later becameNewmarket.

The road almost served its original military purpose during theWar of 1812, when construction of a new fleet of first-rate ships began on the Lakes, necessitating the shipment of a large anchor from England for use on afrigate under construction onLake Huron. The war ended while the anchor was still being moved, and now lies just outside Holland Landing in a park named in its honour.

Bears were known to wander onto Yonge Street in the early days of Toronto. In 1809Lieutenant Fawcett, of the100th Regiment, came across a large bear on the street and cut its head open with his sword.^[13]

In 1824, work began to extend Yonge Street toKempenfelt Bay nearBarrie. A northwestern extension was branched off the original Yonge Street in Holland Landing (present-day Holland Landing Road and the stretch of York Road 1 running northwest ofBathurst Street) and ran into the new settlement ofBradford before turning north towards Barrie (with the Bradford-Barrie stretch being the only part of the later Highway 11 apart from the original section ever to be named Yonge). Work was completed by 1827, making connections with the Penetanguishene Road.^{[citation needed]} In 1833, the legislature voted to "macadamise" some portions of the dirt road.^[14]

The decision was made to withdraw the militarygarrison inPenetanguishene in 1852. A year later, theNorthern Railway of Canada was built along this established route, between Toronto andKempenfelt Bay and extended toCollingwood by 1855. Settlement along the Penetanguishene Road pre-dated the road itself. Subsequent extensions of Yonge Street (though never named as such) which later became the more northerly parts of Highway 11, built in the 1830s (some with military strategy in mind), pushed settlement northeast along the shores of Lake Simcoe. By 1860 theMuskoka Road penetrated the southern skirts of theCanadian Shield, advancing towardsLake Nipissing.

The government of Upper Canada had a limited tax base and a vast area to settle, so they asked private individuals to build and maintain roads in exchange for the right to toll wayfarers.^{[14][15][16][17]} This was a commonplace arrangement at the time: For example, a 13-km stretch ofDavenport Road between theHumber River and theDon River had no less than fivetollbooths spaced along its length.^[15] In the 1830s, the tollbooth nearYork Mills'Miller Tavern and north ofMontgomery's Tavern was "a tiny two-storey building on the west side of Yonge" at the top of the hill "with a roof stretched over the roadway to a support on the far side."^[16]

In 1850, Yonge Street together with a number of other local roads was purchased at auction by James Beatty and hisToronto Road Company for £75,100. Beatty was out of pocket in September 1863, and the legislature once more assumed control until April 1865, when it was able to pass control (also at auction) to York County Council for $72,500.^[14]

The tolls in effect in 1875 ranged from 1 cent for each pig, sheep, or goat to 10 cents for every vehicle with a load drawn by a horse. The tolls were designed to tax those that had money: Farmers on their way to market.^[18]

A horse-drawnstreetcar line was completed on Yonge Street in Toronto in September 1861 and operated by theToronto Street Railway.^[19] The line went from Scollard Street to King Street.^[20] Streetcar service would be electrified in Toronto by 1892.

Confederation and the construction of theCanadian Pacific Railway further diminished the importance of Yonge Street, as the new Dominion of Canada heralded the construction of east–west trade routes spanning the continent. By the 1870s,Henry Scadding, author ofToronto of Old, declared that Penetanguishene did not have the importance to need an approach such as the "extension of the Yonge Street Road."

During the late 1800s, theToronto and York Radial Railway used the Yonge Streetright-of-way, originally to the town of North Toronto, but expanding over the years all the way to Sutton, on southern Lake Simcoe.^[21] The Radial Railway ran along the eastern side of the street, allowing the prevailing westerly winds to remove snow from the slightly raised rails. The arrival of theCanadian Northern Railway in 1906 lessened traffic on the Radial, but it was not until Yonge became a major route for cars that the Radial truly fell into disuse. The last TYRR train north from Toronto ran on March 16, 1930. The line was then purchased by the townships north of the city and re-incorporated asNorth Yonge Railways, running service for another eighteen years before operations ended, along with service on numerous other portions of the Radial lines, in 1948. The space it formerly occupied was used to expand the road between Aurora and Newmarket.

The Yonge Street corridor has evolved significantly over the past century, and is currently seeing a new wave of mixed-use high rise developments. The everlasting construction of office buildings,^[22] high-rise residential towers, along with a variety of shops populating the major corridor across the towns and cities it traverses. This unique and extensive built-form^[23] encourages residents from the East and Western sections of the region to unite in the heart of the GTA.

Stretching through the center of the Greater Toronto Area, Yonge Street has transformed into a vital route, accommodating not only vehicular traffic but also serving as a central hub for transportation and commerce. The corridor is home to theYonge-University Subway Line, serving Toronto,Vaughan, and soon Richmond Hill as the government of Ontario prepares for the construction of the Yonge North Subway Extension.^[24] In addition, theYonge Street Rapidway located North of Toronto, is a comprehensive BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) in York Region allowing for convenient access toFinch Subway Station, in Toronto.^[25] Moreover, Yonge Street hosts numerous modes of public transportation, which connects people to major infrastructure spanning over 30 kilometres.

From the early 1900s onwards, there were several proposals to build asubway for streetcars on Yonge Street, given the high demand for north–south travel within downtown Toronto.^[26][27] Following World War 2, the Toronto Transit Commission proposed a north–southsubway line along the Yonge Street corridor betweenUnion Station andEglinton Avenue.^[28] Approved by voters in 1946, construction began in September 1949, with disruptivecut-and-cover construction on Yonge Street taking place between College Avenue and Front Street.^[29][26] TheYonge Subway was opened in 1954 as Canada's first subway line at a cost of $59m.^[30] The line has subsequently been extended several times, most recently toVaughan,York Region in 2017.^[31] The line – nowLine 1 Yonge–University – is the busiest subway line in Canada, and one of the busiest in North America.^[32]

Yonge Street was formerly a part ofHighway 11, which led to claims that Yonge Street was the longest street in the world.^[33] Running (mostly) concurrent with Yonge as far north as Barrie, then continuing beyond through central and northern Ontario to the Ontario–Minnesota border atRainy River, the highway was over 1,896 kilometres (1,178 mi) long. But Yonge Street could only be called the longest street in the world if it were fully synonymous with Highway 11 over the highway's entire length, which has never been the case.^[34]

The original historic alignment of Yonge Street diverges from the former Highway 11 (now York Regional 1) inEast Gwillimbury, one kilometre north of Green Lane; at this junction, York Road 1 diverts northwest, while Yonge Street turns right at the intersection and then loops back to continue the straight alignment. It then continues, ending at Queensville Side Road inHolland Landing. Approximately 350 metres further west at a jog, it runs north for about 1.8 kilometres, stopping at a dead end just past the Silver Lakes Golf and Country Club; further north, the name picks up again as an unpaved farm road which ends at Ravenshoe Road west ofKeswick and just south ofLake Simcoe.^[34] The diversion running from Holland Landing toBradford does not carry the Yonge name but instead was named Bradford Street in Holland Landing, and Holland Landing Road in Bradford. The latter was later extended as a bypass was added, curving off the original alignment. A second bypass was later constructed, bypassing the entirety of Holland Landing Road and joining Bradford at Bridge Street. At its intersection with 8th Line in Bradford, the former Highway 11 route does pick up the name Yonge again (the only stretch of the former highway aside from the original Yonge Street to carry it), retaining it throughInnisfil until transitioning into Burton Avenue in the Allandale neighbourhood of Barrie, which ends shortly after at Essa Road.

From that point, no other part of the highway any further north ever carried the Yonge Street name, and it makes several turns in Barrie itself as it follows various streets. At its terminus in Rainy River, Highway 11's street name is Atwood Avenue rather than Yonge Street.^[35] When the final leg of Highway 11 betweenAtikokan and Rainy River was completed in 1965, the Rainy River Chamber of Commerce responded with apublicity stunt requesting that Toronto change the name of Yonge Street to Atwood Avenue so that the highway could have the same street name at both ends, but this did not occur.^[36]

(Above) The "longest street in the world" inscription at Yonge and Dundas in front of theToronto Eaton Centre in 2013; and after its removal, in 2017(Below)

The claim was first added by theGuinness Book of Records in 1977 at the request of Toronto writer Jay Myers, supplantingFigueroa Street inLos Angeles.^[37] Myers had sought the designation after writing and publishing a book about the history of the street.^[37] Earlier claims that Yonge was the longest street in the world also existed, withThe Globe asserting it about the original Toronto to Lake Simcoe alignment in 1895, at a time when the rest of Highway 11 did not even exist yet,^[38] and later claiming in 1953 that Yonge was the longest street in the world because it purportedly extended toCochrane, which was then and still is the point at which Highway 11 switches from a north–south alignment to an east–west alignment towardNipigon.^[39] It continued to be listed by Guinness until 1999, when it was dropped in favour of recognizing thePan-American Highway as the world's longest motorable road.^[33]

Provincialdownloading separated Yonge Street from Highway 11 in the late 1990s.^[40] As a result, Highway 11 does not start untilCrown Hill just outsideBarrie, several kilometres north of where the name Yonge Street ends.^[34]

Although current tourist campaigns do not make much of Yonge Street's length, its status as an urban myth was bolstered by an art installation at the foot of Yonge Street and a map of its purported length laid out into the sidewalk inbronze at the southwest corner of Yonge and Dundas Streets.^[34] However, possibly due to wider recognition of the street's actual length, the map inlay has now been removed.

Interestingly, the true longestnamed street in the world may be another street originating in Toronto;Dundas Street. It runs west from the city (crossing Yonge) toLondon, Ontario; with that name throughout most of its length, including at both ends. It was conceived and constructed as a single street, although it has several bypasses and discontinuous sections today.^[41]

In 2008, Toronto's firstpedestrian scramble was opened at the intersection of Yonge andDundas Streets.

On April 23, 2018, adriver intentionally struck numerous pedestrians, killing 11 and injuring 15 others. The attack started at the intersection of Yonge Street andFinch Avenue and proceeded south along the sidewalks of Yonge Street to nearSheppard Avenue.^[42][43]

As Toronto's main street, Yonge hosts parades, street performances, and protests. Aftermajor sporting victories thousands of people will gather on its downtown portions, particularly near Sankofa Square, to celebrate, and the street will be closed to vehicular traffic. Streetcars on routes crossing Yonge in that area (Carlton, Dundas, Queen, King) during those celebrations will often have to cease operations a few hundred metres east or west of Yonge Street due to the crowds. In recent times, these celebrations particularly occurred after theToronto Blue Jays won the World Series of Baseball in 1992 and 1993, when theCanada men's national ice hockey team won the Olympic gold medal in 2002, 2010 and 2014, and when theToronto Raptors won theNBA championship in 2019. During these celebrations motorists drive up and down the other portions of the street honking their horns and flying flags and during lesser celebrations (when the crowds have not closed down the street), they will do this along the downtown portions of the street as well.

Sections of the street are often closed for other events, such as an annual street festival. In 1999Ricky Martin held an autograph session at Sunrise Records and had a large section of the street closed for the day.^[44] The intersection of Yonge and Dundas Streets, centred on the plaza at Sankofa Square, has been closed on occasion to host free concerts, including performances byR.E.M. on 17 May 2001, byBeyoncé on 15 September 2006 and byJohn Mayer on 16 September of the same year.

Five-pin bowling was invented and first played at the Toronto Bowling Club at Yonge and Temperance Streets.

Ken Westerfield and Jim Kenner are credited with introducing ultimate and otherdisc sports (frisbee) to Canada. They did nightlyFrisbee shows on the Yonge Street Mall between Gerrard and Dundas in 1971–1974.^[45][46]

Toronto's annualLGBTQ Pride,Orange Order,^[47] andSanta Claus parades also use Yonge Street for a significant portion of their routes.

The early works of Canadiansinger-songwriters such asJoni Mitchell andGordon Lightfoot were featured at the Yonge Street location ofSam the Record Man, just north of Dundas Street, at a time when records by Canadian musicians were not widely available. Lightfoot has a song about Yonge Street, titled "On Yonge Street," on his albumA Painter Passing Through.

Yonge Street was also the subject or setting for anSCTV comedy sketch featuringJohn Candy,Joe Flaherty,Andrea Martin, andJayne Eastwood. The sketch,Garth & Gord & Fiona & Alice, was a parody of the Canadian filmGoin' Down the Road, about young men from the provinces discovering the bright lights of Yonge Street.

The Canadian singer-songwriterBruce Cockburn makes this reference in his song "Coldest Night of the Year," in his 1981 albumMummy Dust: "I took in Yonge Street at a glance / Heard thepunkers playing / Watched the bikers dance / Everybody wishing they could go to the south of France / And you're not here / On the coldest night of the year."

Singer and rapperK-os also references the street in the lyrics of his 2004 single "Crabbuckit": "Walking down Yonge Street on a Friday / Can't follow them, gotta do it my way / No fast lane, still on a highway".

In Toronto, Yonge Street is served by the eastern half of theLine 1 Yonge–University subway, which runs north fromUnion Station atFront Street toFinch Avenue. The first section of the "Yonge subway" opened in 1954 as Canada's first subway line, and is now the busiest rapid transit route in Canada, and one of the busiest in North America.^[32] There is also a supplementary bus route running along the street, as well as an overnightBlue Night bus route which operates after the subway closes.

In York Region, the street is served byViva Blue, abus rapid transit route which connects withFinch station at the northern terminus of the subway, using theYonge Street Rapidway, adedicated median bus right-of-way (with separate sections), serving stops namedVivastations, fromHighway 7 in Richmond Hill to Newmarket. The subway isproposed to be extended north to Highway 7. Viva Blue is also supplemented by two local-service routes. InHolland Landing, there are transit services as well. In Simcoe County,GO Transit runs a bus route along Yonge from Newmarket to Barrie.Barrie Transit operates Route 8 (8A RVH/Yonge and 8B Crosstown/Essa), a circular route with directional branches that serve Yonge for a portion of their respective routes.

The Yonge North Subway Extension (YNSE) is a significant transit project aimed at connecting the TTC's Line 1 subway service to New Downtown Richmond Hill^[48] by approximately 8 kilometers from Finch Station into York Region. This expansion project will cover areas within the cities of Markham, Vaughan, and Richmond Hill.

Upon completion, the YNSE will integrate with local andGO transit services, assuring the strong transit connectivity in the region. The project commenced on October 6, 2022, with construction activities initiated byMetrolinx in Spring 2023.^[49] Although no specific completion date has been announced, it's anticipated that approximately 6.3 kilometres of tunnelling will be required for the full 8-kilometre extension.^[50] The Yonge North Subway Extension represents a long-anticipated development, first included in York Region's plans since 1994 and subsequently integrated into the Province's transportation agenda in 2007.

The trunk routes serving the street are:

Toronto (TTC):

York Region (YRT):

Route		Direction and Termini
	Viva Blue	SB	ToFinch Bus Terminal	NB	ToNewmarket Bus Terminal (Davis Drive)
99	Yonge South[51]	SB	To Finch GO Bus Terminal	NB	ToBernard Terminal (north ofElgin Mills Road)
98	Yonge North	SB	To Bernard Terminal	NB	To Green Lane
52	Holland Landing[52]	SB	To Newmarket Terminal	NB	To Queensville Sideroad Loops back south via other streets inHolland Landing to terminate back at the Newmarket Terminal

Simcoe County (GO Transit):

Barrie (Barrie Transit):

City	Km	Mi	Road	Notes
Toronto	0.0	0.0	Queens Quay
	0.3	0.1	Gardiner Expressway
	0.6	0.4	Front Street
	0.8	0.5	King Street
	1.2	0.8	Queen Street
	1.7	1.0	Dundas Street
	3.3	2.1	Bloor Street
	5.4	3.3	St. Clair Avenue
	7.5	4.6	Eglinton Avenue
	9.5	5.9	Lawrence Avenue
	11.7	7.3	Wilson Avenue /York Mills Road
	12.7	7.9	Highway 401	Highway 401 exit 369
	13.7	8.5	Sheppard Avenue
	15.7	9.8	Finch Avenue
Markham –Vaughan –Torontotripoint	17.8	11.1	Steeles Avenue	Regional Road 1 begins
Vaughan –Markham boundary	19.8	12.3	Centre Street
Markham –Vaughan –Richmond Hill tripoint	21.9	13.6	407 ETR	Highway 407 exit 77
Richmond Hill	22.1	13.7	Regional Road 7 (Highway 7)
	24.0	14.9	Regional Road 74 (Carrville Road / 16th Avenue)
	26.0	16.2	Regional Road 25 (Major Mackenzie Drive)
	28.1	17.5	Regional Road 49 (Elgin Mills Road)
	32.2	20.0	Regional Road 14 (Stouffville Road)
	34.3	21.3	Regional Road 11 (King Road)
Richmond Hill –Aurora boundary	36.4	22.6	Regional Road 40 (Bloomington Road)
Aurora	40.5	25.2	Regional Road 15 (Wellington Street)
Newmarket	46.8	29.1	Regional Road 31 (Davis Drive)
East Gwillimbury	49.88	31.0	FormerHighway 11
	55.3	34.4	Regional Road 77 (Queensville Sideroad)	Continues north 0.2 km east along Queensville Sideroad
	57.1	35.5	Dead end

• Penetanguishene Road

Bibliography

• Berchem, F. R. (1977).The Yonge Street Story (1793–1860). Toronto, ON: Natural Heritage Books.
• Magel, Ralph (1998).200 years Yonge; a history. Toronto, ON: Natural Heritage Books.

(a) Berczy's Draft letter in the Public Archives of Canada. Among the William Berczy Papers (M.G.23, H ii, Vol.2, p. 419 and Vol. 3, p. 527). As well as agreement of the German Company reproduced in The Simcoe correspondence, I, p. 191, 192

(b) Baby collection, University of Montreal. Salso Berczy Papers National Archive.

(c) John Andre the Berczy Study Infant Toronto as Simcoe's Folly p. 137. Also see Table II that shows comparison by yearly averaged growth from 1802 to 1825 p. 138

(d) Firth, p. 10 p. 10 P.Russell to Elizabeth Russell, Sep. 1, 1793 Also in Eric ArthurToronto No Mean City" Toronto, 1964 p. 138

Wikimedia Commons has media related toYonge Street, Toronto.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toYonge Street, York Region.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide forYonge Street.

• A page which argues against Yonge Street's claim as the world's longest streetArchived 2009-02-03 at theWayback Machine
• Portrait of Sir George YongeArchived 2009-10-08 at theWayback Machine
• A Yahoo! page that claims Yonge Street is the longest street in the world
• Ontarioplaques.com
• Blog series on the southern section of Yonge StreetArchived 2008-12-25 at theWayback Machine
• Google Maps of Yonge Street

• Events of National Historic Significance (Canada)
• York Regional Roads
• Shopping districts and streets in Canada
• Roads in Markham, Ontario
• Roads in Toronto
• Transport in Aurora, Ontario
• Transport in Newmarket, Ontario
• Transport in Richmond Hill, Ontario
• Transport in Vaughan
• 1794 establishments in Canada

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from April 2024
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from June 2020
• All articles needing additional references
• Pages using infobox mapframe without shape links in Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from December 2011
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2023
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Commons category link is locally defined
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Pages using the Kartographer extension