Weston Road

Route description

In the south, Weston Road begins at St. Clair Avenue opposite the north end of the southern leg of Keele Street. Keele previously continued for approximately 55 metres north of St. Clair where the roadway curved to the west off its straight baseline (and where Keele breaks and is cut off from its northern section and where Weston Road began), but this stretch of Keele St. was redesignated as part of Weston Rd. in 2006. Weston Rd. then travels diagonally in a northwesterly direction to Highway 401, passing through Mount Dennis at Eglinton Avenue, and Weston north of Lawrence Avenue. North of the 401, it is a north-south road following the former Sixth Concession Road West to Steeles Avenue and into York Region.

Most of Weston Road is a four-lane principal arterial road through residential areas, except for the northern section which is mostly industrial. The speed limit south of Finch Avenue is 50 km/h (30 mph), which increases to 60 km/h (35 mph) between Finch and Steeles.

Additionally, there is an Old Weston Road, part of the original road that continues near and somewhat parallel to Weston in the environs of its southern terminus. It essentially runs as an extension of Davenport Road, running northwards towards Rogers Road, a short distance east of Weston Road. It passes through the neighbourhood of Silverthorne. It starts at Dundas Street and Dupont. It once ran directly north from there to St. Clair, but this road was closed in the 1970s and has since been removed south of Junction Road.

North of the Toronto city limits at Steeles Avenue, Weston Road enters York Region, where it is designated as York Regional Road 56. Running parallel to Highway 400, it passes through the two western municipalities of York Region, Vaughan in the south and King in the north. The speed limit through York Region is 60 km/h (35 mph). The northern terminus of the road is at Highway 9 in the Holland Marsh.

History

Weston Road was first laid out in the first decade of the 1800s to connect Dundas Street to the village of Weston. This followed the route of what is today "Old Weston Road", then the route of the current Weston Road north to Weston. Between 1810 and 1820, it was extended north to Vaughan Township. In 1841, the route was bought by private interests and it became the "Weston Plank Road", a toll road of planks. The Weston Plank Road extended from Dundas Street north to Musson's Bridge over the Humber, where Albion Road begins. The company built its headquarters at St. Phillip Road and Weston Road. The building exists today at 2371 Weston Road. In 1846, the Weston Plank Road Company built Albion Plank Road from Musson's bridge north-west to Bolton. In the 1850s, the roads were assumed by the township and its municipalities.

Other information

Two bus routes serve Weston Road: 89 Weston (serving the stretch from Albion Road to St. Clair Avenue West, then via Keele Street to Keele subway station) and 165 Weston Road North (serving the stretch from Albion Road to Steeles Avenue, with some branches continuing into York Region).

The road is mentioned on Toronto native Drake's 2016 album Views, in the song "Weston Road Flows".