Ontario Highway 3

Highway 3
Talbot Trail
Location of Highway 3 in Southern Ontario      Current route      Former route
Route information
Length:	261 km[1] (162 mi)
Existed:	1920 – present
Major junctions
West end:	Ambassador Bridge to I-75 / I-96 in Detroit, MI
	Highway 401 – Windsor  Highway 77 near Leamington  Highway 4 near St. Thomas  Highway 19 near Tillsonburg  Highway 24 in Norfolk  Highway 6 in Jarvis  Highway 58 in Port Colborne  Highway 140 in Port Colborne
East end:	Rosehill Rd. in Fort Erie
Location
Major cities:	Windsor, St. Thomas, Port Colborne
Towns:	Leamington, Tillsonburg, Simcoe, Dunnville, Ft. Erie
Villages:	Delhi, Jarvis, Cayuga
Highway system
Ontario provincial highways 400-series • Former ← Highway 2 Highway 4 →

King's Highway 3, commonly referred to as Highway 3 and historically as the Talbot Trail, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario which travels parallel to the shore of Lake Erie. It has three segments, the first of which runs from the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor to Highway 77 in Leamington. The second portion begins at Talbotville Royal outside of St. Thomas, and travels to the western city limits of Port Colborne. The road is regionally maintained within Port Colborne as Niagara Regional Road 3, but regains its provincial designation at Highway 140. From there the highway is mostly straight, passing the Niagara Speedway in the village of Gasline. Its third and final terminus is at Edgewood Park, near the Fort Erie boundary. From there, the road continues under local jurisdiction to the Peace Bridge, where drivers can return to the United States

The total length of Highway 3 is 261.0 km (162.2 mi), consisting of 50.8 km (31.6 mi) from Windsor to Leamington, 168.1 km (104.5 mi) from Talbotville Royal to Port Colborne and 42.1 km (26.2 mi) from Port Colborne to Edgewood Park. Most of the highway follows the historic Talbot Trail, a settlement trail following the northern shore of Lake Erie. Highway 3 is a two-lane freeway from Wellington Road to Centennial Road in St. Thomas. In Windsor, Highway 3 carries a large amount of truck traffic, as it is the only direct link between Highway 401 and the Ambassador Bridge. Another 2-lane freeway segment of Highway 3 runs between Talbot Rd. near Essex to Talbot Rd. near Leamington.

For a while after the portion between Leamington and St. Thomas was downloaded, the Ministry of Transportation had considered renaming the Windsor-Leamington segment of Highway 3 as Highway 103 (a previous designation to an old routing of Highway 69 in Muskoka in the 1970s before Highway 400 was extended through the area).^{[citation needed]}

Route description

Highway 3 follows the route of the historic Talbot Trail for most of it length. Abutting the northern shore of Lake Erie between Windsor and Fort Erie, the route deviates in places to bypass towns and to avoid the less than direct trail laid nearly two centuries ago. Prior to 1998, the highway spanned this entire distance, but has since been divided into three discontinuous sections. The western section travels from Windsor to Leamington. From there, a 145 km (90 mi) gap separates the western and central sections. Highway 3 resumes near St. Thomas at the southern end of Highway 4 and travels 188 km (117 mi) east to Port Colborne. The central and eastern sections are divided by a 4.1 km (2.5 mi) connecting link through Port Colborne. The eastern section begins at Highway 140 and travels 21.3 km (13.2 mi) to Fort Erie. It ends at Rosehill Road, a short distance west of the Peace Bridge crossing into New York.

Western segment

The western segment of Highway 3 begins at the Ambassador Bridge, connecting Canada with the United States over the Detroit River. The Highway travels south-east through Windsor along Huron Church Road and curves east to meet the western end of Highway 401.

Central segment

188 km (117 mi)

Eastern segment

Connections with the United States

When the Michigan Department of Transportation discontinued US 25 in 1973, much of US 25 was redesignated as M-3, whose southern terminus came at Clark Street in Detroit, at the junction of I-75 by the Ambassador Bridge. This provided a connection between Michigan's M-3 and Ontario's Highway 3 until 2001, when jurisdictional changes within downtown Detroit created a discontinuous segment of M-3, and this international Route 3 connection was lost when the portion of M-3 along Fort Street was redesignated M-85.

Before being downloaded to municipal and county/regional governments in 1998, this highway proved a quick link from Chicago, Toledo, and Detroit to Buffalo and Western New York. Highway 3 was a far shorter, quicker and more direct route than any American route (including Interstate 90), due to Lake Erie dipping south along Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.

It was also the only provincial highway to start and end at bridges (Ambassador leading into Detroit, Michigan and Peace Bridge leading into Buffalo, New York) prior to downloading and was the only provincial highway to have both termini at international crossings.

History

Essex By-Pass

See also: Essex County Road 34

The Essex By-Pass (Current Highway 3) was built in stages, from 1971 to 1982. The first stage was to just south of Essex, where it was routed along Malden Road to its former alignment (Now Essex County Road 34). It was extended to Ruthven in 1981, and then routed around Leamington in 1997 as the "Leamington Bypass". Although the Leamington Bypass was constructed by the Ministry of Transportation, the 1.1 km segment east of Highway 77 to County Road 34 was never a part of the provincial network, or a part of Highway 3. It has been signed as County Road 33, as Leamington is planning to link up the two discontinuous segments of CR 33 with an "East Side Arterial Road".

Future

On March 15, 2007, the Windsor Star reported that the Ministry of Transportation had begun clearing shrubs and brush as part of Phase I of Highway 3's upgrades. Phase I is upgrading from the current divided highway segment in Maidstone at CR 34, to CR 8 in Essex, a distance of 6.9 km. Construction on the second carriageway (twinning) is expected to begin in "late summer of 2007". Phase I is projected to cost between $20 million and $25 million, and be finished by summer of 2008. The Ministry of Transportation still has to finalize the road design and find a construction contractor for the job, however. Traffic disruptions will be minimal, as the intersection with County Road 8 has already been upgraded and widened as a requirement. The divided road will have a grassed median. The total widening cost (Phases I, II, and III) is projected to cost $80,000,000 to build. Essex MPP Bruce Crozier has been pressuring the Ministry of Transportation to upgrade the bypass since it was first built in 1977. The section between Essex and Kingsville (the largest/longest stretch, Phase II) has not been finalized either, and depends on funding. The Environmental Assessment that was completed in 2006 has improvements in store for the highway, including planting shrubs and trees to replace those cut down.

See also

• List of roads in Essex County, Ontario

References

1. ^ Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, 2004 Annual Average Daily Traffic

External links

• Canada NewWire Press Release
• Highway 3 at OntHighways.com