page_title: Don Valley Parkway
section_title: South of the Forks
hierarchical_section_title: Don Valley Parkway / Route description / South of the Forks
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking northbound from the bridge between the Riverdale Parks.
context_page_description: The Don Valley Parkway is a municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada which connects the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Highway 401. North of Highway 401, it continues as Highway 404. The parkway runs through the parklands of the Don River Valley, after which it is named. It has a maximum speed limit of 90 km/h for its entire length of 15.0 km. It is six lanes for most of its length but it is eight lanes north of York Mills and four lanes south of Eastern. As a municipal road, it is patrolled by the Toronto Police Service.
  The parkway was the second expressway to be built by Metropolitan Toronto. Planning began in 1954, the year of Metro's formation. The first section opened during 1961 and the entire route was completed by the end of 1966. South of Bloor Street, the expressway was constructed over existing roadways. North of Bloor Street, it was built on a new alignment through the valley, requiring the removal of several hills, diversion of the Don River and the clearing of woodland. North of Eglinton Avenue, the expressway follows the former Woodbine Avenue right-of-way north to Highway 401.
context_section_description: At its southern end near the mouth of the Don River, the parkway begins in a multiple-level interchange with the ground-level Lake Shore Boulevard and the elevated Gardiner Expressway directly above the boulevard. The Gardiner–Don Valley ramps provide access to the section of the Gardiner Expressway west of the parkway. There is no access either from or to the Gardiner east of the parkway. To travel east from the southbound lanes of the parkway, motorists must exit via the off-ramp to Lake Shore Boulevard, which meets the Lake Shore at a signalized intersection.
  Less than 500 metres (1,600 ft) north of the Gardiner, the Canadian National Railway (CNR)/GO Toronto railway viaduct passes over the parkway. The interchange is constrained by that distance for the Gardiner—Don Valley two-lane ramps bridge the difference in height from ground-level under the viaduct with the height of the Gardiner. Acceleration and deceleration lanes for the Lake Shore—Don Valley ramps connect under the viaduct.
  From the viaduct, the parkway proceeds north as a four-lane highway on a straight course along the east bank of the channelized Don River, passing beneath Eastern Avenue and veering slightly to the east as it passes below Queen Street East.
  On- and off-ramps project northward from Eastern Avenue, each adding a lane to both carriageways. The expressway continues northward, with the Don River sandwiched between the highway and Bayview Avenue. The Parkway passes beneath Dundas and Gerrard Streets and rises onto the 'Don Flats' plateau at Riverdale Park. In this section, the elevation of the highway is close to the level of the river and is liable to flood after heavy rains, as occurred in June 2010, for example.
  North from Riverdale Park, the valley widens considerably. The expressway rises from the floor of the valley and passes beneath the towering Prince Edward Viaduct bridge, which connects Bloor Street with Danforth Avenue and carries a subway line.
  The highway runs along the eastern wall of the valley for the next several kilometres, rising and dipping repeatedly.
  The expressway curves eastward into a cut in the hillside as it passes the 'Half-mile' railway bridge. Immediately to the north, it meets the Bayview Avenue–Bloor Street interchange. The long off-ramp to these roads was the original southern terminus of the parkway in 1961.
  The off-ramp was later proposed as the eastern terminus of the proposed Crosstown Expressway. This expressway, opposed by the City of Toronto, was never built:
  it was intended for construction only after the completion of the Spadina Expressway, which itself was cancelled in 1971.
  Just north of the Bayview–Bloor interchange, the expressway passes over Pottery Road. To the east is Todmorden Mills, a collection of historic buildings and a former industrial site, the original "Don Mills". The nearby pond was a section of the Don River cut off by the parkway construction. Further north, to the west where the highway crosses Beechwood Avenue, is Crothers Woods, a restoration site.
  The expressway continues east along the southern edge of the valley. The opposing lanes split as the expressway passes beneath the Leaside Bridge, the southbound lanes at a lower level. The lanes rejoin as they approach the Don Mills Road interchange at the "forks of the Don". Just east of the Don Mills Road interchange, several large white sculptures resembling human teeth are installed on both sides of the road. The sculptures, called The Elevated Wetlands, are examples of "eco-art" and have become a landmark. The sculptures resemble concrete but are made of plastic and filled with waste plastic and wetland plants. The sculptures function as a water filter, removing pollutants from the Don River. A solar-powered pump lifts water to the top of the sculpture and it is returned to the Don after filtration. The sculptures were installed in 1998 and the wetland plants added in 1999.
caption: The Don Valley Parkway at Riverdale Park
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