Ontario Highway 11A (Toronto) History - The King's Highways of Ontario

King's Highway 11A was established in the early 1930s as an alternate route to Highway 11 (Yonge Street), in an effort to improve highway access into Downtown Toronto. The alternate route paralleled Highway 11 (Yonge Street) for virtually its entire length, joining Highway 11 at the Hogg's Hollow Bridge near Lansing.

Highway 11A was assumed in two distinct sections. The first section of Highway 11A that was assumed as a provincial highway began at the intersection of Wilson Avenue and curved northeasterly for 1/2 mile to Yonge Boulevard in North York Township. This northern extension of Avenue Road allowed traffic on Wilson Avenue to use a cut-off route to access Yonge Street (Highway 11) via the new high-level Hogg's Hollow Bridge, which had been completed in 1929. The Avenue Road Extension was assumed by the province as a new provincial highway on March 19, 1930. The following year, Highway 11A was extended south towards Toronto along Avenue Road. A Preliminary Route Plan was prepared dated January 3, 1931, showing the proposed route of Highway 11A via Avenue Road from Wilson Avenue southerly to Lawrence Avenue in North York Township. The route was assumed as Highway 11A by the Department of Highways of Ontario (DHO) on January 21, 1931. A short extension of Avenue Road was constructed by the DHO during 1931, from Lawrence Avenue to the north (1931) limits of the City of Toronto at Otter Crescent. The balance of Highway 11A from Otter Crescent southerly was under the jurisdiction of the City of Toronto. This extension of Avenue Road created a continuous through route from Downtown Toronto to the Hogg's Hollow Bridge. The alternate route offered by Avenue Road, University Avenue, Queens Park and York Street essentially formed a 15 km bypass of the existing section of Highway 11 (Yonge Street) through Toronto. Highway 11A was mostly paved when it was assumed, with the final section of Highway 11A being paved in 1932.

In the late 1940s, plans were developed to construct a new controlled-access four-lane freeway (the Toronto Bypass, later known as Highway 401) across the northern fringe of Toronto. Construction began on the Toronto Bypass in 1950. A portion of this new freeway was constructed along the right-of-way of Highway 11A, on the approaches to the Hogg's Hollow Bridge. In December 1952, the northernmost 2 km of Highway 11A was re-designated as Highway 401. Provincial ownership of Highway 11A ceased in 1954. The entire provincially-owned section of Highway 11A through the former Township of North York was transferred to the newly-formed City of Metropolitan Toronto, effective January 15, 1954. However, Highway 11A continued to be signed by Metro Toronto for way-finding purposes until recent decades, even though no parts of the route were under provincial jurisdiction anymore. Like all municipally-owned sections of the King's Highways which passed through Metro Toronto, the signing of Highway 11A was discontinued after the amalgamation of Metro Toronto in the 1990s. The route of Highway 11A last appeared on the 1997 Official Ontario Road Map and has thus been indicated as the final year for this highway. It should be noted though that some Highway 11A signs were still in place as recently as 2010, many years after the city's amalgamation. Two other unrelated routes were designated as Highway 11A near Bracebridge and Thunder Bay during the 1950s and 1960s.