Park Lawn Road Is Being Narrowed to Two Lanes. Here Is the Plan.

Congestion at Park Lawn and Lake Shore is the most common complaint about living here and the most common question buyers ask. There is a real, adopted, documented answer, and almost nobody knows what is in it.

Every fact on this page comes from a City of Toronto, Metrolinx or council record fetched on 26 August 2026, with the file number or item number given so you can check it yourself. Planning files change. Where two official sources disagree I have printed both rather than picking one.

The governing document

The Park Lawn Lake Shore Transportation Master Plan was initiated in 2016, paused from 2017 to 2019 pending Council’s decision on the Christie’s lands, and reinitiated in 2019 to run alongside the Christie’s Planning Study.

Its Final Report is dated 8 April 2022. The Infrastructure and Environment Committee endorsed staff recommendations on 26 April 2022, and City Council endorsed the Final Preferred Network on 11 May 2022, with two amendments.

The five projects, and what they were estimated to cost in 2022

• Street A — a new connection between Park Lawn Road and Lake Shore Boulevard West with a rail underpass, cycle tracks and grade separation. $182 million to $197 million.
• New North-South Street — two lanes from Lake Shore Boulevard West to The Queensway, grade separated under the rail corridor and the Gardiner. $121.4 million.
• Lake Shore Boulevard West — four traffic lanes with a dedicated streetcar right-of-way, upgraded cycle tracks and wider sidewalks, typically needing a 36 metre right-of-way. $41.8 million.
• Legion Road Extension — two lanes plus a dedicated cycling facility, under the rail corridor. $35 million.
• Park Lawn Road — converted to a neighbourhood main street with two traffic lanes, cycle tracks and wider sidewalks. $10.5 million.

Read that last line again

The adopted plan reduces the number of traffic lanes on Park Lawn Road. That is the opposite of what almost every buyer assumes when they hear that the City has a congestion plan for this area, and it is the single most useful fact on this page.

The logic is that through traffic moves to Street A and the new north-south street, freeing Park Lawn Road to become a local street rather than an arterial. Whether that works depends entirely on whether the replacement roads get built.

Street A: the cost has gone up by roughly a third

A staff report dated 12 February 2025 went to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee on 27 February and was adopted with amendments by City Council on 26–27 March 2025, item 2025.IE19.3.

• Preferred design endorsed: two traffic lanes in a 26 metre right-of-way.
• The cost estimate rose from $182–197 million (a 2021 estimate) to $270 million (an October 2024 estimate).
• Street A is to be constructed as part of the first phase of the Christie’s development, with the City’s share front-ended by the owner and offset by development charge credits. Cost-sharing negotiations between the City and the owner remain ongoing.
• Council authorised staff to work with the owner and with Metrolinx on the agreements needed for detailed design and construction.
• The design includes a vehicle lay-by in front of the Park Lawn GO Station entrance for accessible pick-up and drop-off.

The staff report also records the community feedback plainly: “concerns with overall area traffic congestion, especially along Park Lawn Road at the existing Gardiner Expressway on- and off-ramp signalized intersections, and along Lake Shore Boulevard West” — and “mixed feedback on whether Street A would help improve area traffic congestion.”

That is the City’s own document acknowledging that residents are not convinced. I would rather quote it than paraphrase around it.

The dependency nobody mentions

Here is how the pieces fit, and why the sequencing matters more than the design.

Park Lawn Road loses two lanes. Street A replaces the capacity. Street A is to be built by the developer of the Christie’s site as part of Phase 1. And Metrolinx stated publicly, in a response published 8 November 2025, that it had been informed the developer “are pausing work as they review their development plans.”

So the new road, the new GO station and the narrowing of Park Lawn Road are all attached to the same private timetable. None of them is scheduled independently by the City.

What is actually moving

One thing is. As of a City page last modified 14 August 2026, the City is beginning detailed design on the Legion Road Extension, which will connect Legion Road under the rail line with one motor vehicle lane in each direction plus pedestrian and cycling connections. At the time of the 2022 report the capital budget already carried $775,000 for design and $2.8 million for property acquisition.

That is the only one of the five projects with visible forward motion in the City’s published material.

One thing I will not tell you

I could not find any published intersection-level traffic volume, delay figure, or level-of-service grade for Park Lawn Road at Lake Shore Boulevard West in the City documents I read. The 2022 master plan and the 2025 Street A report both discuss congestion, but qualitatively.

So if you see a specific number attached to that intersection — an average delay, a grade, a vehicles-per-hour figure — ask where it came from. I am not going to publish one I cannot source, and neither should anyone selling you a condominium here.

What this means for a buyer

• The congestion is real and the City has documented residents raising it. Anyone who waves it away is not being straight with you.
• There is a serious, adopted plan — five projects, hundreds of millions of dollars, endorsed by Council in 2022 and refined in 2025.
• Almost all of it depends on a private development that is paused. Do not price in a fix on any particular date.
• Park Lawn Road is planned to get narrower, not wider. If your commute assumes otherwise, check the plan before you buy.

Every document behind this page is public and every item number is above. That is the standard worth applying to any claim about this intersection, including mine.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• City of Toronto — Park Lawn Lake Shore Transportation Master Plan. The current status of the study and the City beginning detailed design on the Legion Road Extension. Page last modified 14 August 2026. Accessed 24 August 2026.
• City of Toronto — Park Lawn Lake Shore TMP Final Report, 8 April 2022. The five preferred network projects and their 2022 cost estimates, including the two-lane conversion of Park Lawn Road at $10.5 million and Street A at $182-197 million. Committee item 2022.IE23.14. Accessed 24 August 2026.
• City of Toronto — Street A staff report, 12 February 2025. The preferred two-lane design in a 26 metre right-of-way, the escalation of the cost estimate to $270 million based on an October 2024 estimate, the front-ending and development charge credit arrangement, and the recorded community feedback. Accessed 24 August 2026.
• City of Toronto Council — item 2025.IE19.3. Council’s adoption with amendments on 26-27 March 2025, the authorisation for staff to work with the owner and Metrolinx, and the vehicle lay-by at the Park Lawn GO Station entrance. Accessed 24 August 2026.
• City of Toronto — Park Lawn Lake Shore common questions. Council’s endorsement of the Final Preferred Network on 11 May 2022 with two amendments, and the Infrastructure and Environment Committee endorsement on 26 April 2022. Page last modified 14 August 2026. Accessed 24 August 2026.
• Mimico Residents Association — Metrolinx response, published 8 November 2025. Metrolinx’s written statement that timelines are at the discretion of the developer and that it was informed the developer is pausing work while reviewing its development plans. Accessed 24 August 2026.

Related reading

• 2150 Lake Shore: what is actually approved on the Christie’s site
• Park Lawn GO Station: where the project actually stands
• How far is your Humber Bay condo actually from the water?
• Humber Bay Shores condo buildings: a guide to every tower