There are a lot of bad roads to drive on in Ontario. In fact, several are notorious and annually make the Canadian Automobile Association's list of worst roads.
Well, there's a new one topping the chart.
The worst road in Ontario is County Road 49 in Prince Edward County, according to the annual survey of drivers. It is the first time this road has ever appeared on the provincial top 10 list.
Algonquin Boulevard West in Timmins and Balmoral Street in Thunder Bay round out the top three. Three of the top 10 worst roads are in Timmins while Toronto only has two roads in the top 10 – Bayview Avenue and Dufferin Street. This is the first time no Toronto road has been in the top 5 and no Ottawa road was in the top 10.
Bayview Avenue and Dufferin Street both made the list for the last three years, but are falling in the rankings. Dufferin Street was voted as the worst road in 2013 and 2014 and third worst in 2015. This year it was ninth.
In 2014, seven of the top 10 worst roads were in Toronto so either Toronto roads are improving or roads in smaller cities are getting worse.
"What the results of this year's Worst Roads campaign tell us is that more attention needs to be paid to smaller municipalities," says Christina Hlusko, president and CEO of CAA for North and East Ontario, in a statement. "The majority of the roads that made it to the Top 10 list are major roadways that connect smaller communities together and as such they are vital for the areas that they link."
The10 worst roads in Ontario
- County Road 49, Prince Edward County
- Algonquin Boulevard West, Timmins
- Balmoral Street, Thunder Bay
- Algonquin Street East, Timmins
- Queenston Street, St. Catharines
- Burlington Street East, Hamilton
- Lorne Street, Sudbury
- Bayview Avenue, Toronto
- Dufferin Street, Toronto
- Riverside Drive, Timmins and Water Street, Thunder Bay
The five worst roads in Toronto
- Bayview Avenue
- Dufferin Street
- Lawrence Avenue East
- Markham Road
- Scarlett Road
More than 2,500 different roads were nominated. Drivers were then asked to vote.
The goal of the campaign and list is to raise awareness for the need to repair roads.
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