Торонто қалалық Дон-Вэлли экспрес-жолы

Toronto municipal expressway

The Don Valley Parkway (DVP) is a municipal freeway 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 for its entire length of It is six lanes for most of its length, with eight lanes north of York Mills Road and four lanes south of Eastern Avenue. As a municipal road, it is patrolled by the Toronto Police Service. The parkway was the second expressway to be built by Metropolitan Toronto (Metro) after the Gardiner Expressway. Planning began in 1954, the year of Metro's formation. The first section opened during 1961 and the entire route was completed to Sheppard Avenue by the end of 1966. South of Bloor Street, the parkway 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 parkway follows the former Woodbine Avenue right of way north to Highway 401. A proposed extension to Steeles Avenue was instead taken over by the province and built as Highway 404, which also absorbed the Metro built segment between Sheppard and Highway 401. The parkway was planned to be one of several municipal and provincial north–south expressways into downtown Toronto. The others, the Spadina Expressway (Allen Road) and a proposed southern extension of Highway 400 were truncated due to public opposition, leaving the parkway as the sole north–south expressway connecting downtown to the northern areas of Metro; the only other complete north south freeway connecting to the Gardiner Expressway is Highway 427 at Toronto's west end. Traffic conditions on the parkway often exceed its intended capacity of 60,000 vehicles per day. Today, some sections carry an average of 100,000 vehicles a day and have bumper to bumper traffic conditions during commuting hours. The parkway is also used by regional transit buses which can access designated lanes to pass slow moving traffic. Locals refer to the parkway as the "Don Valley Parking Lot" due to the bumper to bumper traffic. In November 2023, the municipal and provincial governments announced a tentative deal which will see responsibility for the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway transferred to the province and both maintained as provincial highways.

The Don Valley Parkway begins at an interchange with the Gardiner Expressway near the mouth of the Don River in downtown Toronto. From there, the parkway runs northwards on the eastern bank of the valley, between the river and the developed city to the east. Beyond the southern, older section of the city, the valley widens and the parkway continues northwards through the parklands along the river to Don Mills Road. The route leaves the valley, rises to meet Eglinton Avenue, descends into the valley again and goes through the park lands of Milne Hollow to Lawrence Avenue. The parkway ascends to meet York Mills Road and ends at Highway 401, with the physical road continuing as Highway 404.

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 (before the Gardiner's east end realignment that commenced in 2021, the Gardiner ended shortly after crossing the Don River as it descended and merged into Lake Shore Boulevard via the Logan Avenue ramp from 2002 2021, prior to that the elevated Gardiner extended to Leslie Street from 1966 2001 where it was known as Gardiner East). To travel east from the southbound lanes of the parkway, motorists must exit via an off ramp that meets the Lake Shore Boulevard at a signalized intersection. Less than 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. On and off ramps project northward from the Eastern Avenue viaduct, 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 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. The sculptures were installed in 1998 and the wetland plants added in 1999. As it crosses Eglinton, the expressway passes a business park to the west and the Concorde Place commercial and condominium development to the east. The expressway begins to descend back into the East Don Valley. It passes beneath Wynford Drive and two railways (the CPR Midtown line and the CNR/Richmond Hill GO line) before reaching Lawrence Avenue East, one of the few remaining cloverleaf interchanges in Ontario. This area, known as Milne Hollow, is partially forested, some of the land being conservation reserve. Passing beneath Lawrence Avenue and back over the East Don River, the expressway begins climbing out of the valley once more. Residential sub divisions are present along both sides of the road, isolated from the expressway by noise barriers, from north of Lawrence to Highway 401. It reaches the top of the valley and curves along a plateau before rising and passing over York Mills Road and Underpass Gate, right after the latter provincial control of the road begins. At a large interchange with Highway 401 (built and maintained by the province) the northbound lanes splits into two branches: two left lanes continuing north as Highway 404, and the three others exit to Highway 401 westbound and eastbound. North of the interchange with Highway 401, a former segment of the parkway continues to an interchange with Sheppard Avenue (both that section and the Sheppard overpass were built by Metro), which has since been incorporated as part of Highway 404 in 1977 and has been widened in the early 2000s with a short collector express system.

The entire length of the parkway uses the RESCU Traffic Management System, which was installed in 1994. Like the similar COMPASS system on provincial freeways, RESCU combines in pavement sensors with traffic cameras and changeable message signs (6 fixed and 10 portable) to alert drivers of accidents, traffic conditions and upcoming closures. The system is used as a means of managing traffic flow along the parkway. The RESCU Traffic Cameras are located at regular intervals along the parkway. The cameras, which are operated by the City of Toronto, can be viewed on television and online. The cameras are located on poles and are fixed in direction. There are 16 camera locations on the parkway. Most have one camera for northbound and one for southbound traffic. RESCU operators monitor the cameras for emergency purposes; local radio and television media use the service for traffic reports.

The construction of the Don Valley Parkway was a major undertaking that changed much of the Don valley. While industrial areas existed both near the mouth of the Don River and the area of today's Leaside Bridge, several natural areas remained in those places where the steep sides of the valley had dissuaded large scale urban development. The post war growth period of Toronto provided an impetus to build a new automobile route into central Toronto, and the route through the valley was chosen to avoid expropriation of existing development and provide access for new development in the Metropolitan Toronto region. The construction of the six lane highway modified the valley through the removal of hills, other earth works and the rerouting of the Don River. Since completion, the parkway has not been changed significantly, other than adding one partial interchange at Wynford Drive and updating its infrastructure to current standards.

During the 2010 municipal election, mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson proposed a road toll for the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, drawing comments from critics and supporters across the city. Two projects are underway that may change the parkway's southern end. Waterfront Toronto is conducting an environmental assessment to evaluate replacing, modifying or removing the Gardiner Expressway east of Jarvis Street. The parkway would then end at Lake Shore Boulevard. The City of Toronto eventually decided to keep the Gardiner–Don Valley Parkway connection, with revised ramps. A second proposal, known as the Don Mouth Naturalization and Port Lands Flood Protection project, seeks to recreate the natural mouth of the Don River into Toronto Harbour with the surrounding parkland. The project is managed by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and Waterfront Toronto. The ramps between the parkway and the Gardiner Expressway pass directly over the Don River channel. In late 2016, the City of Toronto and mayor John Tory considered imposing a toll to use the highway, along with the Gardiner Expressway, to cover the maintenance costs of the highway and support public transit construction. However, the plan was rejected by the Ontario government. In November 2023, the municipal and provincial governments announced a tentative deal which will see the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway uploaded to the province and maintained as provincial highways.

The music video for the song "Subdivisions" by Canadian rock group Rush features scenes of the DVP. The song "DVP" by punk rock group PUP is named after the Don Valley Parkway, and its lyrics include references to the parkway.