Yellow Creek runs about 1.5 kilometres through the Vale of Avoca. It starts at Mount Pleasant Cemetery and runs south to Roxborough Drive, set down between Yonge Street and Mount Pleasant Road, with roughly 17 hectares of ravine around it. The City counts twelve access points into that valley. For most of the past decade, the one that has mattered most is the one you can't use.
This winter, the entrances are what is changing. Two stairways on the steep north side are closed. The busiest entrance at that end is set to carry construction equipment from early 2027. And the City's longer-term plan for the ravine is largely about entrances, too. For anyone walking in from North Rosedale or Moore Park, the Mount Pleasant Road and Roxborough end of the valley is about to carry more of the load.
Two Closed Stairways, Both on the Steep Side
The City's October open-house materials name the closures directly. The Heath Crescent staircase and the St. Clair Avenue East connections are closed "because of poor conditions." The City's survey list marks the two stairways closed. One is the staircase at 80 St. Clair Avenue East and the other is the Heath Crescent stairs.
The north end loses entrances first because of the terrain. The City's own description is that St. Clair Avenue sits high above the creek, so routes up to the neighbourhood are long and steep, and steep paths erode faster and are harder to use.
The Heath closure goes back a long way. On its project page, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority traces the site to a slope failure reported after the July 8, 2013 storm. It notes that the City closed a pedestrian staircase off Heath Street East "for the protection of public health and safety," and the photo of that closed staircase on the same page is credited to 2016. Erosion in the creek below has caused many of the old bank-protection structures to fail.
Conditions on the trail itself have been rough as well. In July 2025, CBC Toronto described eroded, muddy and hazardous sections, damaged railings and washed-out stairs. More recently, the Deer Park Residents Group reported that an August 10, 2026 downpour caused more bank erosion and briefly flooded the creek-side trail, apparently after a culvert blockage.
The Entrances That Work Right Now
Here are the open entrances, from the City's survey list.
- Avoca Avenue sloped pathway, the David A. Balfour Park Trail
- David A. Balfour Park North and David A. Balfour Park South
- Mount Pleasant Cemetery
- Jeffrey E. Mann Landing, the Deer Park School stairs
- Shaftesbury Avenue stairs
- Mathersfield Drive stairs
- Mount Pleasant Road south of Inglewood Drive
- Mount Pleasant Road and Roxborough Drive, at the traffic signal
- Mount Pleasant Road north of Roxborough Street East, behind the guard rail
Use is uneven. The City names two entrances as the busiest, the David A. Balfour Park Trail at Avoca Avenue and Mount Pleasant Road at Roxborough Drive. Mount Pleasant Cemetery and the Heath Street East stairs behind Deer Park School are also popular. The City also notes that some access points are hard to find or poorly connected to the trail system.
The signal at Mount Pleasant and Roxborough matters most for anyone coming from the Moore Park side of Mount Pleasant Road. It is the one entrance on the list with a controlled crossing.
What Starts at Heath Crescent in Early 2027
The closed stairway is the one getting rebuilt first. TRCA's schedule calls for procuring a contractor and finalizing permits in 2026. Construction of the channel, the slope works and the staircase begins in the first quarter of 2027, and the staircase replacement happens alongside the slope work. The project covers the valley wall below Heath Crescent and Heath Street East, plus erosion control in Yellow Creek. TRCA's preferred approach combines a rubble-fill buttress, a realigned channel and armourstone-wall bank protection.
TRCA says it will post construction details and distribute a Notice of Construction once planning is complete. The City's panels expect the Heath Crescent work to be finished by summer 2028. Over this fall, you may see crews in the ravine gathering technical data.
| What | When, per City and TRCA |
|---|---|
| Crews gathering technical data | Fall 2026 |
| Slope, channel and stair construction at Heath Crescent begins | First quarter of 2027 |
| Heath Crescent work expected complete | Summer 2028 |
| Restoration tree and shrub planting | Once construction is complete |
The Busiest Northern Entrance Doubles as the Equipment Route
This detail is the one that changes everyday walks. The City's construction map shows the David A. Balfour Park Trail as the construction access route for equipment. The trail will stay open to the public outside construction work hours. To do the work, crews will need to build an access road, remove trees and cross the creek. Some areas of the ravine will close to the public during construction, though the work will be staged where possible to keep closures to a minimum.
So from early 2027, the busiest entrance at the north end shares its route with construction traffic during working hours. The other busiest entrance, Mount Pleasant Road at Roxborough Drive, sits at the opposite end of the valley, along with the Mathersfield Drive stairs and the two Mount Pleasant Road entrances near Roxborough and Inglewood. On a weekday walk during construction, the Rosedale end is the one that stays clear of the haul route.
The south end has been through this before. TRCA finished separate channel repairs on Yellow Creek below Summerhill Gardens, and the trails there reopened the week of May 26, 2025. That job followed emergency work TRCA began in 2019 and a full channel reconstruction in 2024.
The Ravine-Wide Plan Is Also About Entrances
The Heath project is one piece of a larger effort. In July 2025, City Council adopted two member motions, 2025.MM32.15 and 2025.MM32.22. Each added $250,000 for design work. The first directed coordination with the Beltline, the Loop Trail and nearby natural areas. The second set up a working group drawing on City divisions, the community and TRCA. In July 2026, Council also authorized the City to accept qualifying cash and in-kind donations for the project from the Midtown Ravines Group, subject to a written agreement.
According to the Midtown Ravines Group, the consulting firm GHD was selected to prepare an integrated ravine plan over 12 to 18 months, covering erosion, access, trails and ecological restoration. The City's project page records 73 attendees at the first open house on October 7. The online survey ran from October 1 to October 22, and one of its questions asked people where they would prefer to enter the trails.
The open-house panels list the same kind of fixes among the opportunities: better entrance markers, signage and wayfinding, less erosion with better drainage, and more inclusive access where feasible. The City describes the ravine as a link to David A. Balfour Park, Mount Pleasant Cemetery and the Mud Creek and Beltline trail system.
The City's schedule runs on a separate track from TRCA's. A second round of engagement with design options comes in spring 2027. A preferred design follows in summer 2027, and construction runs from 2028 onward, pending funding. The City notes the timeline is subject to change. Survey results and updates go out on the project page and its email list, which you can join at toronto.ca/ValeofAvoca.
If the ravine is part of your weekday routine, the Mount Pleasant Road entrance at Roxborough Drive, with its traffic signal, is the one to learn before the first quarter of 2027.
Changes to a ravine change how a street feels day to day, and that can matter when you are deciding which block suits you. When you're ready to talk about what an address in North Rosedale or Moore Park means for daily life, Catherine Mortimer can walk you through it. Request a personalized market plan, and bring your questions about the streets near the ravine.
