Toronto-Island Ferry And City-sliver
Highway Notes
Despite many residents’ thoughts to the contrary, Canada’s largest city, Toronto is NOT on the Trans-Canada Highway! While the very busy Highway 401 (in parts, over 8 lanes wide!) bisects the metropolitan area, this highway known as the “Macdonald-Cartier Freeway” connects Detroit & Windsor, Toronto and (as highway 20 in Quebec) Montreal and Quebec City.
The closest the Trans-Canada gets to Toronto is a corner on Highway 7 east of Lake Simcoe, closer to Peterborough, which is on the “Southern Route”. You can’t even see the CN Tower from there, that’s how far away it is. Nevertheless, Toronto is both a popular Canadian arrival & departure point for international and American visitors. And, Toronto is home to millions of Canadian who want to see the rest of their country, so we’ve included route itineraries for getting to & from Toronto and the Trans-Canada Highway. We’ve identified two key connection points: Montreal for points east, and Sudbury for all points west.
CYCLISTS NOTES
ll roadways in and around Toronto are busy, given the population density. Cyclists may not travel on any of the 400 series highways in Ontario, which limits options heading north/west. For cyclists, the best way to get out of Toronto NORTHBOUND is to head up Yonge Street, which runs through several communities including Richmond Hill, Aurora and Newmarket and Barrie and continues as Highway 11 to North Bay.
From Barrie, many sources recommend taking route 26 west to Owen Sound, then up to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula, and catching the ferry to Manitoulin Island, and from there north to Espanola on Highway 17 westbound. Cyclists heading EASTBOUND toward Montreal, can take the old Highway 2, which runs along the north shore of Lake Ontario to Kingston and hen along the St Lawrence, and was the main route since the days of horse-drawn coaches in colonial days, until the 401 was built.
