{"id":9566,"date":"2010-02-22T13:00:52","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T18:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=9566"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:32:41","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:32:41","slug":"disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/","title":{"rendered":"Disco Road: The land that metric forgot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>An old street sign in the foreground, with a newer metric speed limit sign and the Disco Road waste transfer station in the background.<\/em>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Disco Road<\/a>, a four-lane industrial road in northwest Etobicoke, is perhaps Toronto’s most dated street name. Disco is most known as the name of a municipal waste-transfer station. These transfer stations are where garbage trucks unload their pick-ups for sorting and transfer to large tractor-trailers to the Green Lane landfill near St. Thomas, and where residents can unload their own loads for recycling and landfill. Other land uses on Disco Road include the Metro West Detention Centre (and ironically, across the street on Carlingview Drive<\/a> is Lovat, a tunnel equipment company).<\/p>\n

West of the waste transfer station, at the Highway 427 overpass, Disco Road turns into Goreway Drive as the four-lane road continues into Mississauga and heads north into Brampton and Caledon. But right upon entering Toronto from the Mississauga border, the driver is presented with perhaps the last non-metricized road sign in Toronto, maybe even one of the last in Canada. The sign warns of trucks entering and exiting Atwell Drive and the waste transfer station, but gives the warning distance in feet, not metres.<\/p>\n

At the same time as the disco music craze, Canada began metricization <\/a>under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and the Liberal government. At the time, the United States was also widely expected to follow suit (today, the US ranks only with Burma\/Myanmar and Liberia in total non-metricization). Though while most measurements (liquid volumes, temperature, distances, air pressure, speeds) and (almost) all road signage is solely in metric, other measurements (weights, human heights, areas) and the interference of Mulroney’s Tories helped keep Canada in a in a strange, transitional phase. Somewhat like the outer reaches of Disco Road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An old street sign in the foreground, with a newer metric speed limit sign and the Disco Road waste transfer station in the background. Disco Road, a four-lane industrial road in northwest Etobicoke, is perhaps Toronto’s most dated street name. Disco is most known as the name of a municipal waste-transfer station. These transfer stationsContinue reading “Disco Road: The land that metric forgot”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69,50,18],"tags":[143,1939,457,14423,427,91,1498,10923,14422,14424,79,7681,2618,1500,19,506],"class_list":["post-9566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-curiosities","category-infrastructure","category-neighbourhoods","tag-brampton","tag-caledon","tag-canada","tag-disco-road","tag-driver","tag-etobicoke","tag-liberal-government","tag-liberia","tag-lovat","tag-metro-west-detention-centre","tag-mississauga","tag-myanmar","tag-pierre-trudeau","tag-prime-minister","tag-toronto","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDisco Road: The land that metric forgot - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disco Road: The land that metric forgot - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An old street sign in the foreground, with a newer metric speed limit sign and the Disco Road waste transfer station in the background. Disco Road, a four-lane industrial road in northwest Etobicoke, is perhaps Toronto’s most dated street name. Disco is most known as the name of a municipal waste-transfer station. These transfer stationsContinue reading "Disco Road: The land that metric forgot"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-22T18:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T19:32:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4029\/4378184878_a9e2dc96f3.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sean Marshall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sean Marshall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/\",\"name\":\"Disco Road: The land that metric forgot - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4029\/4378184878_a9e2dc96f3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-22T18:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T19:32:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e30d299fd82dc8b9f811e5e7b3ec154e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4029\/4378184878_a9e2dc96f3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4029\/4378184878_a9e2dc96f3.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Disco Road: The land that metric forgot\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e30d299fd82dc8b9f811e5e7b3ec154e\",\"name\":\"Sean Marshall\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44df24893f717b2112f5dd4ec16e001f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44df24893f717b2112f5dd4ec16e001f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sean Marshall\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/wire\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/sean\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Disco Road: The land that metric forgot - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Disco Road: The land that metric forgot - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"An old street sign in the foreground, with a newer metric speed limit sign and the Disco Road waste transfer station in the background. Disco Road, a four-lane industrial road in northwest Etobicoke, is perhaps Toronto’s most dated street name. Disco is most known as the name of a municipal waste-transfer station. These transfer stationsContinue reading \"Disco Road: The land that metric forgot\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2010-02-22T18:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T19:32:41+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4029\/4378184878_a9e2dc96f3.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Sean Marshall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sean Marshall","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/","name":"Disco Road: The land that metric forgot - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4029\/4378184878_a9e2dc96f3.jpg","datePublished":"2010-02-22T18:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T19:32:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e30d299fd82dc8b9f811e5e7b3ec154e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4029\/4378184878_a9e2dc96f3.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4029\/4378184878_a9e2dc96f3.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/02\/22\/disco-road-the-land-that-metric-forgot\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Disco Road: The land that metric forgot"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e30d299fd82dc8b9f811e5e7b3ec154e","name":"Sean Marshall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44df24893f717b2112f5dd4ec16e001f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44df24893f717b2112f5dd4ec16e001f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Sean Marshall"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/wire"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/sean\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9566"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38294,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9566\/revisions\/38294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}