Ontario Highway 3B - History

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 renamed 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 University Avenue), 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 to municipal control, and the desigination of Highway 3B was placed on the re-aligned curve leading along Dougall Avenue and Ouellette Avenue.

In 1966, the road was also designated as a connecting link. This meant that while Windsor would have more responsibility in maintaining and repairing the road, the Ministry of Transportation would still contribute and help. The road's status as a provincial highway was repealed in 1975, but the connecting link agreement was kept, allowing the road to still be signed as Highway 3B, to reduce confusion among motorists. The connecting link was repealed in 1998.

The road was well-signed in Windsor, and lasted until 1975, when it was officially deleted 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.