Lake Shore Boulevard

Lake Shore Boulevard (often incorrectly compounded as Lakeshore Boulevard) is a major arterial road running along more than half of the Lake Ontario waterfront in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Prior to 1998, two segments of Lake Shore Boulevard (from the Etobicoke–Mississauga boundary to the Humber River and from Leslie Street to Woodbine Avenue) were designated as part of Highway 2, with the highway following the Gardiner Expressway between these two sections.

Lake Shore Boulevard's western terminus is Etobicoke Creek, the western boundary of Toronto. Its western section is a redesignation of the old Lakeshore Road, which still runs from Burlington to Mississauga. From here its route follows closely, though not always within sight of, the shoreline of Lake Ontario eastward through the city to Ashbridges Bay, where it curves north and becomes Woodbine Avenue at Woodbine Beach. The former route of Highway 2 briefly follows Woodbine then turns right onto Kingston Road east.

From the western city limit, Lake Shore Boulevard (designated Lake Shore Boulevard West), originally part of Lakeshore Road, is a four-lane arterial road through the neighbourhoods of Long Branch, New Toronto and Mimico. This section is lined with commercial and retail uses and served by streetcars. The area furthest to the west was more industrial in character, which continues to be converted to other uses. As the street gets nearer to Humber Bay, the Mimico area becomes almost entirely residential and somewhat older as it was one of the first areas of cottage development for city dwellers. East of Park Lawn Road, the street is lined to the south with recently built condominium towers on the former stretch of motels known as "The Motel Strip". No motels now remain from the period when travelers would stay at motels here, which was then just outside the Toronto city limits.

East of Brookers Lane, the route geometry of Lake Shore becomes complicated due to the interchange with the parallel Gardiner Expressway; which runs tight up against it to the north near the Humber River crossing: The westbound lanes cross the Gardiner (running along the north side of it) and are intertwined with the ramp from the westbound expressway which meets the street opposite Brookers Lane after crossing back to the south side; although Lake Shore still has an overlapping two-way section east of this point entirely south of the Gardiner. The streetcar line runs along this segment for a short distance before leaving the street to enter Humber Loop via a short tunnel under the expressway. Lake Shore then briefly downgrades to a two-lane local street and then becomes one lane (and one way) eastbound as it merges with the eastbound offramp from the expressway (which provides the large majority of the traffic along Lake Shore east of this point). on the Humber River bridge.

The splitting of Lake Shore was done at the time of the expressway's construction, as new bridges were built to connect to the terminus of the Queen Elizabeth Way highway. The highway to the west has become part of the Gardiner, and the Lucky Lion monument which designated its starting point was relocated nearby to the south of the Lake Shore Boulevard, just east of the Humber.

East of the river, Lake Shore becomes a six-lane parkway-like arterial along Lake Ontario, with vistas of the city and lake. From the to Bathurst Street, the roadway is built on land infilled into the lake. The section east of the Humber was infilled in the 1910-1920s and was part of the Sunnyside Amusement Park development, which the road travelled through. The section south of Exhibition Place was infilled in the 1950s, at the same time as the Gardiner Expressway project. The original shoreline is elevated along the north side of the street. The area east of the Exhibition was infilled earlier. The original shoreline is north of the Boulevard, and the Queen's Wharf lighthouse is on the north side of the street. The Sunnyside/Exhibition section has much open space with some development, including recreation facilities, such as Ontario Place, Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion, Palais Royale and the Boulevard Club.

In the downtown section, Lake Shore criss-crosses, runs parallel and underneath the elevated section of the Gardiner Expressway. It is designated Lake Shore Boulevard East east of Yonge Street. This section travels through the old rail lands and port district. The streets in this area predate the designation as Lake Shore Boulevard but were connected in the 1950s prior to being renamed in 1959. From Dan Leckie Way to Yonge Street, the south side of the street has been entirely converted to high-rise condominium development. West of Yonge, Lake Shore is one-way westbound, while eastbound traffic travels along Harbour Street. East of Yonge, Lake Shore is one single road under and alongside the Gardiner.

The 509 Harbourfront and 511 Bathurst streetcars serve the adjacent Fleet Street from Exhibition Place to Bathurst Street, but there are no regular service transit routes along Lake Shore in this area.