Kennedy Road (Toronto)

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 acre 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.

Commerce
The Kennedy Road Business Improvement Association (BIA) represents more than 300 businesses located on the road between Lawrence Avenue East and Kennedy Commons at Highway 401.

Largest neighbourhoods

 * Dorset Park
 * Milliken
 * Agincourt
 * Kennedy Park
 * L'Amoreaux
 * Steeles

Attractions

 * Kennedy Commons Mall
 * Agincourt Mall
 * White Shield Plaza
 * Tam O'Shanter Golf Course
 * Kennedy Subway station
 * Pacific Mall
 * Market Village Shopping Centre
 * Angus Glen Golf Club
 * Mandarin Golf and Country Club
 * Pheasant Run Golf Club
 * Willow Beach
 * Lake Simcoe
 * Kennedy Business District

Public transit
In Toronto, service on Kennedy Road north of Eglinton Avenue is provided by the 43 Kennedy route. South of Eglinton, routes 113 Danforth (to Danforth Road) and 20 Cliffside (from Park Street to Highview Avenue) travel on Kennedy.

In York Region, Kennedy Road is served mainly by YRT Route 8. Other routes using portions of Kennedy Road are YRT Routes 2 (Milliken, at Milliken GO Train arrival times), 18 (Bur Oak), and 522 (Markham Community Bus).

The Viva Purple and Viva Green lines pass through Kennedy Vivastation at Highway 7.