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Lost Neighbourhood: Blondin Avenue

How could I forget Fifth Line WHS?

Much of it got replaced by Erin Mills Parkway on the south end, and like your link shows, the north end swallowed up by development in Meadowvale. Also, I remember when New Derry Road was first built, which severed Second and Third Lines WHS. The old Derry Road linked up well with new until 2000 or so, when it was disconnected on both sides, meaning a long detour to get into the old Meadowvale Village.

For more fun, try tracking the old Toronto Suburban Railway through Peel and Halton (it's easier in Brampton than Mississauga these days).
 
I absolutely love abandoned roads and places. There are so many interesting things that usually line them - from curbs, to old posts, sewer covers, etc.

Here's some more locations for scouting:

Indian Line/Old 427 End - Long span of roadway, now only used as an access road
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...79.631819&spn=0.002035,0.004302&t=k&z=18&om=1

Sherway Drive/Middle Road Bridge - Overpass into Mississauga, abandoned road
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...79.562795&spn=0.002039,0.004302&t=k&z=18&om=0

Eastern Avenue Bridge - Over Don Valley River - Abandoned (not sure of the status now...
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...79.351585&spn=0.001019,0.002151&t=k&z=19&om=0

Morning Star Drive / 427 Link - When Morning Star USED to meet the 427 ...
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...79.624245&spn=0.002035,0.004302&t=k&z=18&om=0

Murray Ross Parkway - Used to to loop to Steeles Avenue - now it doesn't?
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...79.505852&spn=0.002034,0.004302&t=k&z=18&om=0
 
In Toronto itself, Pottery Road is another interesting one, though sadly a lot of its former hikeable course has been destroyed in the last couple of years by the new development up on the bluff where the Bayview Ghost used to stand. Still, it's a walk worth taking. Start up at Moore Ave. There's a long, very visible stretch of it just west of the Bayview Extension and north of the railroad tracks. What used to be the entrance into the bush and down its track into the valley has been destroyed by True Davidson Drive, however, so finding the remainder down to what still exists at the river is a little trickier than it used to be, but it can be done.
 
Jarrek said:
Indian Line/Old 427 End - Long span of roadway, now only used as an access road
Click to expand...

Used to be the end of the 427 for about ten years, in fact. I've explored it, last December and again this summer. Many photos, and a lot of aerial shots. I'll post them soon.


Jarrek said:
Sherway Drive/Middle Road Bridge - Overpass into Mississauga, abandoned road
Click to expand...

Another early interest of mine; I have a lot of shots of it from the late 90s and early 2000s, and some aerials too. Was open to traffic till 1978, I think, when Mississauga closed its half. Yes, apparently you can close half a bridge. :)


Jarrek said:
Eastern Avenue Bridge - Over Don Valley River - Abandoned (not sure of the status now...
Click to expand...

I've passed this one a million times on the DVP but it never occurred to me there might be a western approach!... I'll have to try that.


Jarrek said:
Morning Star Drive / 427 Link - When Morning Star USED to meet the 427 ...
Click to expand...

I can remember using this intersection to visit a friend in Malton around 1990. Got some shots of the area again in 2005 and then again in late 2006. Lots of aerials as well. Will post.


Jarrek said:
Murray Ross Parkway - Used to to loop to Steeles Avenue - now it doesn't?
Click to expand...

That's a new one on me. Intriguing. My map from the early 1970s does show it as a continuous road. Maps sometimes lie, though. I'll have to see what the aerial shots at the Archives show.

Thanks! :)
 
There used to be the extension to the concession roads that went across the Pearson Airport Lands. For a short time, near the Toronto Border at Eglinton, there was a stub of Fifth Line East (now part of the Airport Corporate Centre).

I started tracking abandoned railways, but many roads are just as fun to track.
 
SeanTrans said:
Here's the postcard. It's by Ted Wickson (TTC staff photographer) from 1968.

1176706947_d8596a40f5_o.jpg
Click to expand...
Ah, notice the shelter in the background; an Otter Loop doppleganger...
 
Hi, everybody. I'm new here; this is my first post. You folks have got some quality work up here; a lot of it is fascinating and inspiring. I hope I can offer something of quality to you all as well.
Click to expand...
Well done and probably the best first post in the history of this forum! Welcome aboard and I'm eager to here/see more!

Used to be the end of the 427 for about ten years, in fact. I've explored it, last December and again this summer. Many photos, and a lot of aerial shots. I'll post them soon.
Click to expand...
I remember this well from my youth. I think at one point you could take Indian Line from Derry right up to Steeles (over the resevoir bridge). I also remember the Morning Star / 427 interchange. I think it had a traffic light (which was always odd for a highway). Even odder was the traffic light further south at the 409 before they built the overpass.
 
Darkstar416 said:
I remember this well from my youth. I think at one point you could take Indian Line from Derry right up to Steeles (over the resevoir bridge). I also remember the Morning Star / 427 interchange. I think it had a traffic light (which was always odd for a highway). Even odder was the traffic light further south at the 409 before they built the overpass.
Click to expand...

The trip from Finch to Steeles on the line,that I would have liked to have seen. I don't recall the traffic light at the 409, but I've heard of it. I don't know when it was there, so I might have seen it but just not paid attention. But I well remember the light on the southbound 427 at Morning Star. That seemed weird to me even then. I was driving there a couple of years ago and suddenly realized they'd finally built the long-sought-after bridge across to Etobicoke... I'd heard the OMB had dismissed the Metro-side objections. But it was still startling to see it. Now when I think back to the intersection, I can't visualize it without the bridge there, no matter how hard I try.
 
The 409 traffic lights only stopped traffic headed northbound - it was to allow southbound 427 traffic to eastbound 409. I can't completely remember, but I think it was removed around 1990-1992 when the flyover ramp was finished. Morning Star Drive lasted longer, and came down a curved hill. I just don't remember if it required northbound traffic to stop or not, though.
 
SeanTrans said:
TMorning Star Drive lasted longer, and came down a curved hill. I just don't remember if it required northbound traffic to stop or not, though.
Click to expand...

That one I remember well. :) No one had to stop northbound (at least not officially). There was a short left turn lane that bled off the fast lane and let traffic line up in the median. The light was on the southbound lanes to let people turn left onto Morning Star. It seems to me that if you were accessing the 427 from Morning Star, your only option was turn right and head south. There must have been a lot of accidents there, though, with people lining up to turn left and potentially clogging the fast lane. Mind you, at the time, the 427 didn't really go much further north -- it dumped onto Indian Line directly -- so people ought to have been getting ready to slow down by the time they were nearing Finch anyway. I didn't have much to do with that stretch of the 427 after about 1991 or so... wish I had; a lot was happening around there at the time I'm only learning about now in retrospect.
 
There's other chopped up but still visible concession-type roads in Scarborough:
- Sewells/Conlins/Lash/Manse
- Reesor/Rouge River/Dean Park/Sudbury Hall/Morrish/Bennett/Chemical
- Beare/Boydwood/Tallpines/Tideswell/Centennial
 
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