Ouellette Avenue - History

History

Ouellette Avenue first began as the original alignment of Highway 3 from 1920, terminating at the International Ferry Dock between Ouellette Avenue and Dougall Avenue, in downtown Windsor. This remained until July 10, 1929, when the Ambassador Bridge opened. Highway 3 was re-routed along the newly-constructed Huron Church Road to the bridge, and Ouellette Avenue was re-designated as Highway 3A (Windsor). This lasted until 1935, when it was re-designated as Highway 3B (Windsor).

In 1962, the City of Windsor re-aligned Ouellette Avenue to flow into Dougall Avenue directly, instead of having Highway 3B traffic head north along Dougall Avenue, then making a short east-bound jog on Tecumseh Road before continuing left (north) on Ouellette Ave. The former alignment remained as Ouellette Avenue, while the new alignment became "Ouellette Place". Four years later, it was designated as a Connecting Link, enabling Windsor to receive monetary and mechanical/paving assistance in maintaining the road, and to continue to sign it as Highway 3B, should it be downloaded. Though it was officially turned back in 1975, the connecting link status remained in place until January 1, 1998. This was when the connecting link status was repealed, and the road was officially retired as a Provincially-maintained highway.