Huron Church Road

Infobox road
highway_name = Huron Church Road
marker_

alternate_name = Huron Line


length_km = 6.6
direction = North/South
starting_terminus = Riverside Drive/Ambassador Bridge in West Windsor, Ontario
ending_terminus = Talbot Road/Highway 3/Cabana Road (4th Concession) in LaSalle, Ontario
cities = Windsor, LaSalle
established = July 10, 1929

Huron Church Road is a principal arterial road in Windsor, Ontario and is among the busiest roads in all of Canada, serving the world's busiest border crossing, the Ambassador Bridge. The road is a divided highway, but has residential and office accesses, and intersections. Although the road directly leads to Talbot Road, it continues as "Huron Church Line" in LaSalle for 5 kilometres (3 miles), until it meets up with Howard Avenue/Essex CR 9. For the most part, the speed limit is 60 km/h (40 mph) and the 17 traffic signals are the only ones along the transcontinental corridor from Montreal to Mexico City, which create a major bottleneck.

History

Huron Church Road was first built in 1929 as an approach to the Ambassador Bridge, upon the bridge's completion. Shortly after the road opened, Highway 3 was re-aligned onto it.

The road was widened several times in its history, its last widening being in 1993, from four lanes (2 northbound, 2 southbound), to 6 lanes (3 northbound, 3 southbound), with special turnaround points for cars and trucks (which are dangerous as they are simply stop signs, and not traffic signals), and stretches of the road were repaved with strong concrete.

The road carries most of the traffic from Highway 401 to the Ambassador Bridge, and serves as a residential link between Highway 401 and I-75 in Detroit, Michigan. A full 25% of Canadian trade to the United States (and 4% of American trade to Canada) is carried along the road and Ambassador Bridge.

Huron Church Road carries Highway 3 right to the Windsor city limits, at the intersection of Cabana Road (Formerly part of Essex County Road 42 and Todd Lane (County Road 6).

September 11th, 2001 Attacks

When the September 11th Attacks occurred, the bridge was shut down as a result for roughly a week. This caused a nightmarish traffic backup, with trucks lined up all along Huron Church Road and Highway 401 out to Belle River Road (a staggering distance of 34 kilometers/21 miles). One story posted in the September 12, 2001 issue of the Windsor Star told of a kind man driving to the McDonalds on Lauzon Road and Tecumseh Road and ordered 200 meals for stranded truckers, and even got the McDonalds restaurant to cover half the bill.

Traffic Amounts

Traffic and idling trucks have long been an issue for residents and voters of Windsor, as they see Huron Church Road as a huge bottleneck for traffic, especially during security increases and lockdowns at the border, causing a wall of trucks for miles, essentially separating Sandwich Neighbourhood and the West Side from the rest of Windsor.

The road's pavement is also complained about, with huge grooves in sections from all the trucks driving onto it, making it dangerous to drive across, or to even change lanes on while driving. The road and bridge are rapidly approaching capacity, and a new border crossing is needed.

The number one complaint about this road is that Highway 401 was never extended to the Ambassador Bridge upon completion in 1965. However, the Ministry of Transportation did plan to extend Highway 401 to the bridge, however, opposition along the proposed corridor (Huron Church Road) killed the project.

Talbot Road

Talbot Road is a 4.6 km extension of Huron Church Road, leading to the interchange of Highway 401. The entire road is located within the LaSalle, Ontario - the northerly edge of the right-of-way serves as the boundary between LaSalle and Windsor. It is a very busy road, and has only two control cities on its length: Bridge To USA (Ambassador Bridge) near St. Clair College, and Leamington, Ontario, at the Interchange with Highway 401.

ee also

* List of roads in Essex County, Ontario
* E. C. Row Expressway
* Highway 2
* Highway 3
* Highway 18
* Highway 401

ources

* [http://www.windsorstar.com/ The Windsor Star]