Ontario Highway 3B
| Howard Avenue, Dougall Avenue, Ouellette Avenue | |
| Route information | |
|---|---|
| Length | 11 km (6.8 mi) |
| Existed | 1929 (As Highway 3A) 1935 renumbered as Highway 3B–1975 1998, Connecting Link repealed |
| Location | |
| Counties | Essex County, Ontario |
Highway 3B is a former Kings (Provincial) Highway in Windsor, Ontario. Its purpose was to link Highways 3 and 401 with the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and downtown Windsor.
History
Highway 3B was originally named Highway 3A, when its parent road (Highway 3) was re-routed to meet the newly-finished Ambassador Bridge. The original alignment was then named Highway 3A. In 1935, the road was re-named Highway 3B. This road originally travelled along Howard Avenue and Dougall Avenue, before making a short 3-block jog east along Tecumseh Road to Ouellette Avenue, continuing to downtown Windsor's ferry docks. When the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel was completed in 1930, the Highway was truncated about 1 km from the ferry docks, at the intersection of Ouellette Avenue and London Street (now Wyandotte Street), just two blocks from the tunnel entrance at Goyeau Street.
When the Ouellette Avenue curve was constructed in 1963, the portion north of the curve along Dougall Avenue and Tecumseh Road was reverted back to municipal control, and the desigination of Highway 3B was placed on the re-aligned curve leading along Dougall Avenue and Ouellette Avenue.
The road was well-signed in Windsor, and lasted until 1975, when it was officially decommissioned as a provincial highway (as many automobiles and transport trucks chose the more efficient Ambassador Bridge approach via Huron Church Road, and the new Highway 401 approach built in 1964. The road was still signed as a provincial highway until 1998, however, as part of a Connecting Link agreement with the Province of Ontario. Today, the road is simply known as Howard Avenue, Dougall Avenue, and Ouellette Avenue.
Route Description
The road starts at the intersection of Howard Avenue and Highway 3, and heads due north, towards the interchange with Highway 401A/Dougall Parkway. At the interchange, the road then continues along Dougall Avenue towards downtown Windsor as a four-lane undivided arterial road, with center turning lanes. It travels through several residential neighbourhoods and by several shopping plazas.
At E.C. Row Expressway, the road gains a central divider, but has traffic lights for full access to and from the freeway. It then travels under the CN Rail tracks (still with a central reservation), and along the curve to Ouellette Avenue. It continues north before terminating at the intersection with Wyandotte Street in downtown Windsor, just two blocks from the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
Confusion
During the 1980s and 1990s, many maps listed both Dougall Parkway and Highway 401's as Highway 401, with Dougall Parkway being less-commonly listed as Highway 3B. This is no longer the case, however, since Highway 3B no longer technically exists as a provincial highway, and Dougall Parkway is now maintained by the City of Windsor.
Highway 3B Maidstone
This road existed from 1931 to 1938 in Maidstone, Ontario, between Windsor and Essex, Ontario. This road became Highway 98A in 1938, which was later re-designated as Highway 114, and ultimately decommissioned.