Roads in Windsor, Ontario
Encyclopedia
The road network in Windsor, Ontario
is a grid
system with elongated blocks, generally aligned with the Detroit River
, with East-West roads running parallel
to it, and North-South streets running perpendicular
(90 Degrees) to it. This is an adoption from when French Canadian
settlers first built farm
s and streets in the area. Many streets have French
names in result, such as Lauzon Parkway, Marentette Avenue (a quiet residential street), Ouellette Avenue
(considered by many Windsorites to be its "Main Street
"), and Pelissier Street. The current street system of Windsor (grid with elongated blocks) reflects the French
method of agricultural land division where the farm
s were long and narrow, fronting along the river (this originates from french methods of tax collection, with more taxes being paid by property
owners with waterfront
properties, thus why riverfront
lots were usually narrow).
have their own system. Forest Glade and The Villages of Riverside were built recently (in the 1960s and 1970s, and have circular patterns, while Sandwich has its own grid roughly 45 degrees off from the rest of the city, in a triangle
from Huron Church Road and the Detroit River, south to Tecumseh Road and Prince Road. This is due to the river turning southwest-ward just west of the Ambassador Bridge
. Another major part of the city where the streets "jog" across Tecumseh Road is Fountain Bleu, when Tecumseh Road was the former city limit with the former Township of Sandwich South until the 1960s.
Highway 401
skirts the City Limits but never enters the City. A former spur, Highway 3B, now known as Dougall Parkway is a limited access freeway between the 401 and Howard Avenue. Just north of Howard Avenue, Dougall Parkway becomes Dougall Avenue.
There are a few other divided highways/dual carriageways with varying levels of development, access, and intersections, such as Ojibway Parkway, Lauzon Parkway, Ouellette Avenue
, and Huron Church Road.
s are listed from the Detroit River, heading towards the south:
Many of these roads in Windsor pass by Big Three
Automaker
plants, such as Ford Motor Company of Canada
, GM Canada
, and DaimlerChrysler Canada
, which is why they are so busy.
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
is a grid
Grid plan
The grid plan, grid street plan or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid...
system with elongated blocks, generally aligned with the Detroit River
Detroit River
The Detroit River is a strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as "River of the Strait". The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river...
, with East-West roads running parallel
Parallel (geometry)
Parallelism is a term in geometry and in everyday life that refers to a property in Euclidean space of two or more lines or planes, or a combination of these. The assumed existence and properties of parallel lines are the basis of Euclid's parallel postulate. Two lines in a plane that do not...
to it, and North-South streets running perpendicular
Perpendicular
In geometry, two lines or planes are considered perpendicular to each other if they form congruent adjacent angles . The term may be used as a noun or adjective...
(90 Degrees) to it. This is an adoption from when French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
settlers first built farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s and streets in the area. Many streets have French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
names in result, such as Lauzon Parkway, Marentette Avenue (a quiet residential street), Ouellette Avenue
Ouellette Avenue
Ouellette Avenue is one of the main North-South Roads in Windsor, Ontario, and acts as its Main Street. the road diverges from Dougall Avenue south of Downtown Windsor, travelling northward over the Essex Terminal Railway/CP Rail tracks, before terminating at a turnaround and parking lot at Dieppe...
(considered by many Windsorites to be its "Main Street
Main Street
Main Street is the metonym for a generic street name of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world...
"), and Pelissier Street. The current street system of Windsor (grid with elongated blocks) reflects the French
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
method of agricultural land division where the farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s were long and narrow, fronting along the river (this originates from french methods of tax collection, with more taxes being paid by property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
owners with waterfront
Dock (maritime)
A dock is a human-made structure or group of structures involved in the handling of boats or ships, usually on or close to a shore.However, the exact meaning varies among different variants of the English language...
properties, thus why riverfront
Riverfront
A riverfront is a region along a river; often in larger cities that border a river, the riverfront will be lined with marinas, docks, parks, trees, or minor attractions. Today many riverfronts are a staple of modernism and city beautification....
lots were usually narrow).
Introduction
Most of the city is uniform in its grid, but a few neighbourhoodsNeighbourhoods of Windsor, Ontario
Windsor, Ontario has a very diverse population, and this diversity is shown in its many neighborhoods. Windsor has twenty in all, ranging from rural farmland to densely built-up areas.- Downtown :...
have their own system. Forest Glade and The Villages of Riverside were built recently (in the 1960s and 1970s, and have circular patterns, while Sandwich has its own grid roughly 45 degrees off from the rest of the city, in a triangle
Triangle
A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....
from Huron Church Road and the Detroit River, south to Tecumseh Road and Prince Road. This is due to the river turning southwest-ward just west of the Ambassador Bridge
Ambassador Bridge
The Ambassador Bridge is a suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume: more than 25 percent of all merchandise trade between the United States...
. Another major part of the city where the streets "jog" across Tecumseh Road is Fountain Bleu, when Tecumseh Road was the former city limit with the former Township of Sandwich South until the 1960s.
Expressways
Windsor has one freeway, the E.C. Row Expressway.Highway 401
Highway 401 (Ontario)
King's Highway 401, also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway and colloquially as the four-oh-one, is a 400-Series Highway in the Canadian province of Ontario stretching from Windsor to the Quebec border...
skirts the City Limits but never enters the City. A former spur, Highway 3B, now known as Dougall Parkway is a limited access freeway between the 401 and Howard Avenue. Just north of Howard Avenue, Dougall Parkway becomes Dougall Avenue.
There are a few other divided highways/dual carriageways with varying levels of development, access, and intersections, such as Ojibway Parkway, Lauzon Parkway, Ouellette Avenue
Ouellette Avenue
Ouellette Avenue is one of the main North-South Roads in Windsor, Ontario, and acts as its Main Street. the road diverges from Dougall Avenue south of Downtown Windsor, travelling northward over the Essex Terminal Railway/CP Rail tracks, before terminating at a turnaround and parking lot at Dieppe...
, and Huron Church Road.
Main East-West Roads
These main East-West arterial roadArterial road
An arterial road, or arterial thoroughfare, is a high-capacity urban road. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector roads to freeways, and between urban centres at the highest level of service possible. As such, many arteries are limited-access roads, or feature...
s are listed from the Detroit River, heading towards the south:
- Riverside DriveRiverside Drive (Windsor, Ontario)Riverside Drive is one of the main roads in Windsor, Ontario, travelling along the Detroit River, between its riverfront parks and high-rise office towers and apartment buildings. The road travels through Downtown, and towards the east end...
- University Avenue
- Wyandotte Street
- Tecumseh Road
- Eugenie Street (short, but very busy connector)
- E. C. Row ExpresswayE. C. Row ExpresswayThe E C Row Expressway is a municipal expressway in the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. It divides the city in half as it crosses it between the Ojibway Parkway in the west and Banwell Road in the east. The expressway is named after Ohio born Edgar Charles Row, the president of Chrysler Canada...
- Cabana Road/Division Road
Other East-West Roads
- Erie Street
- Giles Boulevard (Windsor, Ontario)
- Ottawa Street (Windsor, Ontario)
- Shepherd Street
- Grand Marais Road/West Grand Boulevard
- Plymouth Road (originally built to direct traffic from the now-demolished Pillette Road Van plant away from residential areas to the north and east)
- Dougall Parkway (leads to Highway 401Highway 401 (Ontario)King's Highway 401, also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway and colloquially as the four-oh-one, is a 400-Series Highway in the Canadian province of Ontario stretching from Windsor to the Quebec border...
, serves South Windsor and Southwood Lakes subdivisionSubdivision (land)Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise develop, usually via a plat. The former single piece as a whole is then known in the United States as a subdivision...
) - North Talbot Road
- Totten Street
- College Avenue (a busy truck route)
- Prince Road (continuation of Totten St., meets up with Tecumseh Road)
- Forest Glade Drive
- Wildwood Drive
Main North-South Roads
These main North-South arteries are listed from west to east:- Sandwich Street
- Matchette Road
- Malden Road
- Huron Church Road (extremely busy connector linking Highway 401 to Ambassador BridgeAmbassador BridgeThe Ambassador Bridge is a suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. It is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume: more than 25 percent of all merchandise trade between the United States...
and I-75Interstate 75Interstate 75 is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. It travels from State Road 826 and State Road 924 in Hialeah, Florida to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, at the Ontario, Canada, border...
) - Campbell Avenue/Dominion Boulevard (originally intended to become a freeway in the 1970s as a spur route from E.C. Row into downtown, anti-freeway sentiments by downtown and west side residents and businesses killed it)
- Dougall AvenueDougall Avenue (Windsor, Ontario)Dougall Avenue is a very busy four-lane urban arterial road, linking Downtown Windsor, with South Windsor and Highway 401. The road is a minimum of four lanes for its entire length, and is among Windsor's busiest, with an Average Annual Daily Traffic amount of 35,000 vehicles per day from Eugenie...
- Ouellette Avenue
- McDougall Avenue
- Howard Avenue
- Provincial Road
- Banwell Road
- Walker RoadWalker RoadWalker Road was one of the busiest roads in Windsor, Ontario before the road closure. It has an average annual daily traffic level of 32,000 cars per day at the CP Rail crossing.- History :The road is named after Hiram Walker, distillery baron...
- Central Avenue
- Pillette Road
- Jefferson Road
- Lauzon Road/Lauzon Parkway
Other North-South Roads
These other North-South routes tend to be short, but busy, as they serve heavily built-up areas in Downtown and other areas:- Victoria Avenue (notable for having some of the oldest houses in the city along it. It is a quiet downtown residential street otherwise)
- Drouillard Road/Chrysler Center
Many of these roads in Windsor pass by Big Three
Big Three automobile manufacturers
The Big Three, when used in relation to the automotive industry, most generally refers to the three major American automotive companies:Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler...
Automaker
Automaker
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....
plants, such as Ford Motor Company of Canada
Ford Motor Company of Canada
Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited was founded in 1904 for the purpose of manufacturing and selling Ford automobiles in Canada and the British Empire. The Ford Motor Company in Detroit transferred the patent and selling rights to the Walkerville Wagon Company, in order to avoid the tariff rates...
, GM Canada
General Motors Canada
General Motors of Canada Limited is General Motors' Canadian division. Its national headquarters office, Canadian Regional Engineering Centre, and main manufacturing plants are located in Oshawa, Ontario. GM Canada is 100% owned by GM.As of Apr...
, and DaimlerChrysler Canada
DaimlerChrysler Canada
Chrysler Canada Incorporated is Chrysler's Canadian subsidiary. Incorporated in 1925, the Chrysler Corporation of Canada gained complete control of a Maxwell-Chalmers plant in Windsor Ontario that had been used to manufacture some Chrysler models in the previous year...
, which is why they are so busy.
See also
- List of roads in Essex County, Ontario