Street Description
Most of the section known as Spadina Avenue is a six-lane urban arterial, with a speed limit of 50 km/h (30 mph), although it is unposted. The section known as Spadina Road is a two- to four-lane collector road with speed limits alternating between 40–50 km/h (25–30 mph).
The 77 Spadina bus route inspired a song, "Spadina Bus", which became a surprise Top 40 hit in Canada for the jazz fusion band The Shuffle Demons in 1986. In the 1990s, however, the TTC rebuilt and reinstated the 510 Spadina streetcar line, which runs largely in a dedicated right-of-way in the middle of the street since its opening in 1997. Prior to the construction of the Spadina LRT, streetcars ran down the street until it was replaced by the 77 Spadina bus. Bricked road bed was used along the streetcar route. Small sections of the brick road bed remained until the LRT was constructed.
In the 1960s, city hall was planning to tear up Spadina and most of the buildings on either side to construct the Spadina Expressway, a proposed highway that would have run straight into downtown. After a long public battle, with the opposition to the project led by Toronto urban writer Jane Jacobs and former Toronto mayor John Sewell, the plans were halted in 1971.
The Forest Hill Jewish Centre has announced plans to rebuild the façade of the Great Synagogue of Jasło, Poland, which was destroyed by the German Army in World War II, as the façade of its new building on Spadina Road.
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