Street fests will snarl traffic in Toronto this weekend

It's a big weekend for street festivals in Toronto, and that means it's going to be busy one on city streets. There are four major shutdowns to be avoided as you roll around town from Yonge Street to Queen Street East. Complicating matters further, there's also a significant TTC closure to be aware of on Sunday.

The most noteworthy closure this weekend is for the Beaches Jazz Festival, which will shutdown Queen Street East between Woodbine and Beech avenues from 6 p.m. to midnight from Thursday to Saturday.

Big on Bloor will shut down the eponymous street from 9 a.m. on Saturday to 9 p.m. on Sunday between Dufferin Street and Lansdowne Avenue. There's usually performances and activity in the laneways around the area during the festival, so be aware of an increased pedestrian presence.

Toronto's Somali Festival will witness the closure of Dixon Road from Chetta Place to Kipling Avenue between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Saturday. Note well if you use Dixon to access Pearson International.

Toronto's newest street festival, Ossfest, will close down Ossington between Dundas and Queen streets from 6 a.m. on Saturday to 3 a.m. on Sunday. Surrounding streets will also be closed for a criterium-style bike race, so avoid the area altogether if possible.

And keeping up a string of closures of lower Yonge Street, Youth Day will close the area between Dundas and Shuter streets on Sunday between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

TTC subway service will run normally on Saturday, but there will be a late opening on Sunday from St. George to Broadview stations (trains begin at 10 a.m.) and the section between Broadview and Main stations will be closed for the entire day (re-opening for the start of service on Monday). Find more details here.

There are plenty of other closures across the city due to roadwork, which you can check up on using the official city of Toronto map.

Photo via the Beaches Jazz Fest's Facebook page.

by Derek Flack via blogTO