Don Valley Parkway

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Don Valley Parkway
DVP
Formed:	1960s - completed 1966
Direction:	North/South
From:	Gardiner Expressway, Toronto, Ontario
To:	Highway 401 (Ontario) & Highway 404 (Ontario), Toronto, Ontario
Major cities:	Toronto, Ontario

Image:Don Valley Parkway.jpg

The Don Valley Parkway (often referred to as the "DVP" or simply as "The Parking Lot") is a controlled-access six-lane freeway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, so named because it runs through the scenic Don River Valley.

The northern terminus of the Don Valley Parkway is at the Highway 401 interchange while its southern terminus is at the FG Gardiner Expressway. It follows the route of the former Woodbine Avenue between O'Connor Drive and Highway 401 and through a new route through the lower Don valley. The speed limit is 90 km/h (55 mph).

The Don Valley Parkway was built as part of a grand plan initiated by then Metro Chair FG Gardiner (for which the FG Gardiner Expressway is named) in the 1950s to criss-cross the city with expressways. The highways plan was never completed because of downtown objections to several of the expressway routes leaving it and the Gardiner Expressway to carry the bulk of highway traffic into the core.

North of Highway 401, the freeway continues as Ontario provincial highway 404. Metropolitan Toronto had initially intended to extend the DVP north past Sheppard Avenue but the province took over the project and renamed it Highway 404. Although the DVP does not use exit numbers, Highway 404's exit numbers start at 17 (instead of 0) in order to account for the length of the DVP.

1 Interchanges
2 Construction phases
3 Traffic Congestion
4 Expansion Plans
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Interchanges

From south to north:

Street	Description
Gardiner Expressway	southbound to westbound Gardiner, eastbound Gardiner to northbound Don Valley Parkway only
Lakeshore Boulevard	interchange at Gardiner, via Don Roadway
Eastern Avenue	southbound off-ramp to westbound Eastern Avenue Diversion (Richmond St. East), northbound on-ramp from eastbound Eastern Avenue Diversion (Adelaide St. East) only
Queen Street East	northbound on-ramp via Davies Avenue only
Dundas Street East	northbound on-ramp only
Danforth Avenue	northbound on-ramp from eastbound Bloor St. at east end of Bloor viaduct
Bloor Street / Bayview Avenue	Partial long ramp (originally intended as part of Crosstown Expressway, intersects Bloor at Castle Frank Road while the other terminus is a trumpet with the DVP, has a half-clo with Bayview Avenue only accessible to/from DVP traffic.
Don Mills Road	Partial Interchange (seven-ramp cloverleaf, no access from Don Mills SB to Don Valley Parkway NB)
Eglinton Avenue East	full interchange (Parclo A4, formerly a cloverleaf until loop ramps in the NE and SW quadrants were removed in the 1980s)
Wynford Drive	southbound off-ramp and northbound on-ramp only (half-diamond, ramp to NB Don Valley Parkway was added in 1990)
Lawrence Avenue East	full interchange (cloverleaf)
York Mills Road	full interchange (Parclo AB, formerly a Parclo AB3 until loop ramp in NW quadrant was closed off during reconstruction from fall 2004 to spring 2005.)
Highway 401 / Highway 404	full interchange (Parclo variant with additional overpasses for freeway speed traffic)

[edit] Construction phases

Bayview Ave/Bloor Street to Eglinton Avenue East 1961
Eglinton Avenue East to Lawrence Avenue East 1963
Bloor Street to Gardiner Expressway 1964
Lawrence Avenue East to Sheppard Avenue East 1966 - along with the expansion of Highway 401 into a collector-express system
Sheppard Avenue East to Steeles Avenue East 1977 - now part of Highway 404 (Ontario)

[edit] Traffic Congestion

The Don Valley Parkway is Toronto's busiest commuter route (along with the Gardiner Expressway), connecting the city to its northern and eastern suburbs via Highways 401 and 404. When the construction of the DVP was completed in 1966, Toronto had a much smaller population. In addition, most of the traffic that now uses the DVP was slated to have used the Scarborough Expressway, which was never completed. Today, the population of the outer suburbs has grown to several times its previous amount, subsequently, the number of vehicles has grown and the DVP is frequently congested. This has earned the DVP its other nickname, "the Don Valley Parking Lot".

The most congested section is between Eglinton Avenue and Ontario provincial highway 401 often being congested well beyond the normal rush hours, although the highway is often congested along its whole length. This situation has not changed since the 1980's.

The interchange with Highway 401 is a serious bottleneck, due to only 2 through traffic lanes for northbound/southbound traffic and because of heavy four-way volumes. The worst jams occur southbound just past the junction with Highway 401, where 5 lanes + 1 HOV Lane from Highway 404, 4 lanes from the 401 Westbound, 2 lanes from the 401 Eastbound and 1 lane from the Sheppard Avenue interchange become 4, and eventually 3.

Since the early 2000s, the 1960s conventional cobra-neck poles have been replaced by shaded high-mast lighting. Traffic management on the DVP has improved with the installation of changeable message signs and overhead ('RESCU') cameras have been installed along the route, similar to the Compass system that the province uses for 400-Series Highways such as Highway 401 and the QEW.

[edit] Expansion Plans

The Don Valley Parkway was originally designed and built as a four-lane expressway and has subsequently been expanded to six lanes in the 1980s, when the grass median right of way was replaced by an addition lane per direction and a Jersey concrete barrier.

As the volume of commuters has grown, plans have been floated several times to expand the highway further, add bus lanes or other alternative roadways, although no plans exist currently. There have also been called to revive the Scarborough Expressway, which would have diverted much of the traffic that currently uses the Don Valley Parkway.

During the 2003 municipal election campaign, candidates openly debated expanding the highway, funded through the conversion of the highway to a toll highway. Plans to reduce traffic have included Single Occupant Vehicle Tolls combined with Duo Occupancy Vehicle Tolls which are slightly lower than SOV. but this was rejected after fears that traffic would be diverted on already-congested parallel arterials such as Bayview Avenue and popular objections to toll highways.

Most recently, in 2004, the Canadian Automobile Association lobbied for a plan of expansion of the DVP, along with the construction of additional arterial roads to accommodate the traffic volumes. One such example is extending Leslie Street past Eglinton Avenue until it meets the DVP; Leslie Street has an interchange with Highway 401 while Don Mills does not.