Toronto · intersection · signal 1492

McCowan & Steeles

McCowan Rd & Steeles Ave E · Toronto, Ontario · Milliken · Ward 23, Scarborough North

McCowan & Steeles, in Milliken, is a heavily travelled arterial crossing. It has a protected bikeway, a park and an accessible pedestrian signal at the corner. Nearby: 8 TTC routes within a kilometre.

Traffic volume
39,376
vehicles · 14-hour count, Oct 29, 2024
1,825 pedestrians · 227 cyclists · #123 busiest
Collisions
0
police-reported, any severity · 2016–2025
none reported within 65 m
KSI collisions
1
killed or seriously injured · 2016–2025
1 fatal · 0 pedestrian · 0 cyclist · #586 of 1,505
Red-light camera
None
not on the City's camera list
Transit
6
TTC stops within 100 m
5 bus routes within 1 km
Cycling
Protected
Cycle Track, Bike Lane
no Bike Share dock within 150 m

Hour by hour, the 14-hour count works out to close to 2,810 vehicles, 2.4× the median counted intersection. There is roughly one pedestrian for every 22 vehicles, well below the typical one per 13.

Map

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McCowan & Steeles

Getting here

Transit within 1 km, cycling at the corner, and what's within a 1.5 km walk

Transit & cycling

TTC bus
1295313083021 nearest 23 m
Express
953
Blue Night
316353
Nearest stops
11 surface stops within 300 m — McCowan Rd at Steeles Ave East; Steeles Ave East at McCowan Rd
Regional
York Region Transit 002 Milliken at Elson St / Middlefield Rd871 m
Cycling
Cycle Track on Steeles Ave E installed 2025; Bike Lane on Steeles Ave E installed 2004
Bike Share
no station within 1 km

Straight-line distances to the nearest stop or station entrance in each agency's current schedule feed, including temporary diversions.

Within walking distance 1.5 km

Schools (7)
  • Banting and Best Public SchoolEnglish Public · 595 m
  • Prince of Peace Catholic Elementary SchoolEnglish Separate · 697 m
  • Ecole Elementaire Laure RieseFrench Public · 1 km
  • The Divine Infant Catholic Elementary School & Msgr Frasier NortheastEnglish Separate · 1.1 km
  • Macklin Public SchoolEnglish Public · 1.2 km
  • Agnes Macphail Public SchoolEnglish Public · 1.3 km
  • and 1 more
Parks (4)
  • Milliken Park415 m
  • Goldhawk Park940 m
  • Muirlands Park1 km
  • Audrelane Park1.4 km
Library
  • Toronto Public Library Goldhawk Park branch811 m
Signal
1492, activated 1985 · SA1 · accessible (audible) pedestrian signal · leading pedestrian interval North/South/East/West

Around the corner

Food premises, public washrooms, child care and emergency services — distances are straight-line from the node

Restaurants & food

There is 1 restaurant, café or takeout within 300 m of the corner, plus 1 grocery or convenience store, and 44 eating places within a kilometre. The nearest is Tim Hortons, 73 m away, which passed its last DineSafe inspection in May 2026.

Restaurants & cafés1 within 300 m · 44 within 1 km
Grocery & convenience1 within 300 m · 14 within 1 km
Nearest food premisesDistanceLatest DineSafe inspection
Tim Hortons · 5445 Steeles Ave E73 mPassed, May 2026
Shell · 5445 Steeles Ave Egrocery74 mPassed, Dec 2023
Tasty House · 240 Alton Towers Crcl Unit-5561 mPassed, Jun 2026 · 1 infraction
Tim Hortons · 240 Alton Towers Crcl561 mPassed, Jul 2026
Romantic Bakery · 240 Alton Towers Crcl Unit-A11grocery561 mPassed, Aug 2026
Dangol · 240 Alton Towers Crcl Unit-A10561 mPassed, Aug 2026
Ginger and Onion Cuisine · 240 Alton Towers Crcl Unit-A7561 mPassed, Sep 2026
Dangol · 240 Alton Towers Crcl, Unit-A10561 mPassed, Jun 2025

Every establishment Toronto Public Health inspects under DineSafe, screened by name to leave out kitchens inside schools, care homes and offices. A conditional pass means infractions had to be fixed by a follow-up visit, not that the premises is closed.

Washrooms & water

The nearest public washroom is Milliken Park Community Recreation Centre Washroom, 166 m away, View centre hours. A drinking fountain is 293 m away at Milliken Park.

  • Milliken Park Community Recreation Centre Washroom · 4325 Mccowan Rd
    View centre hours
    166 m
  • Milliken Park Washroom Building · 5555 Steeles Ave E
    9 a.m. to 10 p.m. · accessible
    289 m
Drinking water
Milliken Park bottle filling station · 293 m; Milliken Park drinking fountain, dog fountain · 468 m

Park washrooms, washrooms in City buildings and automated street toilets, with hours and status as the City publishes them (park washrooms are seasonal). Malls, shops and TTC stations are not included.

Child care

Three licensed child care centres within a kilometre offer 238 spaces; all accept City fee subsidy. The nearest is Banting and Best Child Care Centre (380 Goldhawk) (595 m, 118 spaces, preschool, kindergarten, school age).

Within 1 km3 centres · 238 spaces
Fee subsidy3 of 3
  • Banting and Best Child Care Centre (380 Goldhawk) · 380 Goldhawk Trail
    118 spaces · preschool, kindergarten, school age · fee subsidy · $10-a-day
    595 m
  • Banting and Best Schoolage Satellite(255 Alton Towers) · 255 Alton Towers Cir
    43 spaces · kindergarten, school age · fee subsidy · $10-a-day
    696 m
  • Garderie Chez Tante Laure · 339 Alton Towers Cir
    77 spaces · toddler, preschool, kindergarten, school age · fee subsidy · $10-a-day
    1 km

Licensed centres only; spaces are licensed capacity, not vacancies.

Emergency services

The nearest fire hall is Fire Station 242 (2.7 km) and the nearest ambulance station 2.7 km away.

FireFire Station 242 · 2.7 km2733 Brimley Rd
Policenone within 5 km
AmbulanceAmbulance Station 27 · 2.7 km900 Tapscott Rd

Nearest station by straight line — not a response time, and not necessarily the station that would answer a call.

Parking

Every mapped lot within 2 km, Green P with peak occupancy, City EV charging and bike parking

All parking lots105 lots · ≈30,580 spaces · 91.7 ha
Within 500 m5 lots · ≈1,160 spaces
Green P (public)none within 2 km
EV charging (City)none within 2 km
Bike parking7 post-and-rings within 300 m

Nearest lots: 63 m away, ≈51 spaces; 75 m away, ≈100 spaces; 128 m away, ≈251 spaces; 232 m away, ≈593 spaces; 405 m away, ≈166 spaces; 511 m away, ≈185 spaces.

Lot count and area from the City's topographic mapping of parking-lot footprints (every visible surface lot, public or private); spaces are estimated at one per 30 m² of lot. Lots not run by Green P are private, commercial or institutional and may be for customers or residents only. Green P spaces and average daily peak occupancy from the Toronto Parking Authority's quarterly dataset (* = capacity from the 2019 car-park list; rates are not shown because that list is stale — check Green P). EV chargers are City-operated only; on-street and underground parking are not included.

Traffic volume

The City's latest turning-movement count — 14-hour, Oct 29, 2024

The north leg carries the load — 12,938 southbound vehicles, or 33% of everything entering — while the west leg brought 6,830. Most cyclists arrived from the east (105 of 227). The afternoon peak is the heavier one — 3,635 vehicles in the hour from 4:30 p.m., 8% above the morning peak from 8:15 a.m. (3,352). Heavy vehicles made up 4.6% of traffic (typical: 3.2%). The citywide median for a 14-hour count is 16,183 vehicles. The count is 22 months old; the City recounts intersections on an ad-hoc schedule, so volumes may have shifted since.

From the north12,938southbound · 48 bikes · 3.9% heavy
From the west6,830eastbound · 37 bikes · 6.1% heavy
Total vehicles39,3761,825 pedestrians · 227 cyclists · 4.6% heavy
From the east9,850westbound · 105 bikes · 5.7% heavy
From the south9,758northbound · 37 bikes · 3.5% heavy
AM peak hour3,352 vehicles from 8:15 a.m.
PM peak hour3,635 vehicles from 4:30 p.m.
Count14-hour · Oct 29, 2024

Approach figures are vehicles entering the intersection from that leg over the whole count. A count is one day's traffic, not an annual average; the City recounts on an ad-hoc schedule.

How fast traffic moves here

Midblock speed counts on the intersection's streets, the nearest school-zone speed sign, and traffic calming

The City's counter on McCowan Rd between Alton Towers Crcl and Milliken Park Trl (312 m away) recorded an average of 52 km/h in its 24-hour count in April 2025; 85% of drivers were at or under 59 km/h. That segment carries about 24,500 vehicles a day.

Street segmentCountedVehicles / dayAverage85th percentile95th
Steeles Ave E · McCowan Rd – Milliken Park Trl · 171 mApr 2016 · 7 days15,042
McCowan Rd · Alton Towers Crcl – Milliken Park Trl · 312 mApr 2025 · 24 h24,47252 km/h59 km/h64 km/h

Midblock counts are automatic counters laid across the road for one to seven days; the 85th-percentile speed is the figure engineers use — 85% of drivers were at or below it. Counts are ad hoc, so some are years old. A midblock reading is not the speed through the intersection itself, and posted limits are not in the count data.

All police-reported collisions

Every collision reported to Toronto Police within 65 m, any severity, 2016–2025

Toronto Police recorded no collisions of any severity within 65 m of this intersection in 2016–2025.

Source: Toronto Police Service, Traffic Collisions Open Data — every collision reported to police since 2014, within 65 m of this node. Records through Jun 30, 2026.

Killed or seriously injured

Collisions in which someone died or was seriously injured, within 65 m, 2016–2025 — the basis of the danger rankings

One collision in 2016–2025 was fatal. 1 motorcyclist was among those hurt. It happened in daylight or lit conditions. The most recent was on Aug 13, 2019. Going back to 2006, the total is 5.

By year

16171819202122232425
2016–2025Collisions
All KSI collisions1#586 of 1,505
Fatal1#225 of 319
Involving a pedestrian0
Involving a cyclist0
Involving a motorcyclist1
In darkness0
All KSI since 20065latest Aug 13, 2019

KSI = killed or seriously injured. A collision is counted if its recorded location is within 65 m of this intersection's centreline node, whether the police coded it as intersection-related or mid-block. Records can lag a year or more, so the current year is excluded from rankings.

Nearby intersections

Questions

Is McCowan & Steeles a dangerous intersection?

It is not among the worst. 1 serious-injury collision was recorded in 2016–2025 (#586 of 1,505). High counts usually track high traffic volume rather than a design flaw; volume is shown alongside so the numbers can be read in context.

How busy is McCowan & Steeles?

A heavily travelled arterial crossing. It ranks #123 of 2,390 counted intersections for vehicles, 2.4× the median for a counted intersection.

How fast do cars go at McCowan & Steeles?

The City's most recent speed count near the corner, on McCowan Rd between Alton Towers Crcl and Milliken Park Trl (April 2025), found an average of 52 km/h and an 85th-percentile speed of 59 km/h — meaning 85% of drivers were at or below that speed.

Where can I park near McCowan & Steeles?

There is no Green P car park within 2 km. The City's mapping shows 105 parking lots of any kind within 2 km — roughly 30,580 spaces — 5 of them within 500 m; most are private or customer-only lots.

How do I get to McCowan & Steeles by transit?

Bus routes 129, 53, 130, 830, 21, 953 within 1 km (nearest stop: McCowan Rd at Steeles Ave East, 23 m); York Region Transit route 002 Milliken at Elson St / Middlefield Rd.

What restaurants are near McCowan & Steeles?

1 restaurant, café or takeout is within 300 m, and 44 within a kilometre, according to Toronto Public Health's DineSafe inspection list. The closest are Tim Hortons (73 m), Tasty House (561 m), Tim Hortons (561 m), Dangol (561 m) and Ginger and Onion Cuisine (561 m). Each one's latest inspection result is shown on this page; DineSafe does not record cuisine or opening hours.

Is there a public washroom near McCowan & Steeles?

The nearest is Milliken Park Community Recreation Centre Washroom, 4325 Mccowan Rd, 166 m away (View centre hours). Next nearest: Milliken Park Washroom Building (289 m). These are the City's own washrooms — in parks, civic buildings and automated street toilets — not those in malls, coffee shops or TTC stations.

Is there child care near McCowan & Steeles?

Three licensed child care centres within 1 km, with 238 spaces in total; all accept City fee subsidy and all are in the $10-a-day (CWELCC) program. The nearest are Banting and Best Child Care Centre (380 Goldhawk) (595 m, 118 spaces), Banting and Best Schoolage Satellite(255 Alton Towers) (696 m, 43 spaces) and Garderie Chez Tante Laure (1.0 km, 77 spaces). Spaces are licensed capacity, not vacancies.

What neighbourhood is McCowan & Steeles in?

McCowan & Steeles is in Milliken (City of Toronto neighbourhood 130). It is in Ward 23, Scarborough North, represented by Councillor Jamaal Myers.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of these datasets — how they are joined