![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
![]() ![]() | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
York Regional Road 3 | |||||||
Namesake | The Kennedy Family | ||||||
Maintained by | City of Toronto Region of York | ||||||
Length | 46 km (29 mi) | ||||||
Location | Toronto Markham East Gwillimbury Georgina | ||||||
South end | Highview Avenue in Toronto | ||||||
Major junctions | St Clair Avenue Eglinton Avenue Lawrence Avenue Ellesmere Road ![]() Sheppard Avenue Finch Avenue Steeles Avenue ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Herald Road ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||||
North end | Lake Street in Georgina | ||||||
|
Kennedy Road is a north-south street in Toronto and York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is one of three major streets in Scarborough, and is home to the business district of Scarborough because of the many hundreds of stores along Kennedy Road. The Toronto section of the road is mainly residential with high rise apartment buildings, but there is a large section of commercial activity from Lawrence Avenue East to just north of Sheppard Avenue East. North of Steeles Avenue, it is also known as York Regional Road 3, and traverses Markham, Whitchurch-Stouffville, East Gwillimbury, and Georgina, where it terminates at Lake Drive East.
Kennedy Road is named for the Kennedy family, one of the many early farming settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries to which Thomas Laird Kennedy belonged. It is likely linked to Private John Kennedy of the 3rd Regiment of the York Militia (now The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC) who was granted 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land near Kennedy Road and Ellesmere Road.
Kennedy Road is one of two major Greater Toronto Area streets (the other being Queen Street West and Queen Street East) that share their names with other, equally major roads. The other Kennedy Road runs north-south in Peel Region. In York Region, former parts of Kennedy Road include Old Kennedy Road and Main Street Unionville. Kennedy Road is cut off between Davis Drive and Herald Road, because of the Pheasant Run Golf Club. Beyond that, Kennedy Road runs all they way north until the shores of Lake Simcoe at Lake Drive East.
In the 1990s, Kennedy Road was realigned at Steeles Avenue to connect the broken section, and was realigned east 300 m between Highway 407 and 16th Avenue. From Steeles Avenue, it is a four-lane road northward to Major Mackenzie Drive East, and a two-lane road from Major Mackenzie Drive East to Lake Simcoe.
There are low-density residential and commercial buildings from Steeles Avenue to Major Mackenzie Drive East and from Mahoney Avenue to Lake Drive East. Future high density residential and commercial development is beginning to go up in Downtown Markham, as Kennedy forms its eastern boundary. Lots of farmland and forests can be found between Mahoney Avenue and Major Mackenzie Drive East.