Highway 98 (Ontario)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kings Highway 98 |
|
| Provincial Road, Middle Road, Essex County Road 46, Chatham-Kent Road 8 | |
| Length: | 96.2 km (60 mi) |
|---|---|
| Formed: | 1823 (as Middle Road), 1929 (as Highway 2A, 1938 (as Highway 98) |
| Decomd.: | 1970 |
| Direction: | East/West |
| East end: | Highway 40/Highway 3 in Blenheim |
| East end: | Highway 2 in Windsor |
| Counties: | Essex County, Ontario, Chatham-Kent |
| Major cities: | Windsor, Maidstone, Comber, Tilbury, Merlin, Blenheim |
This moderately long highway travels through the northern part of Essex County, Ontario, starting its journey in Windsor, Ontario.
This road's purpose was to be an alternate route for people travelling on Highways 2 and 3 before Highway 401 opened in 1952. The highway's original length was only 55 km (stretching from Windsor to Tilbury), and was originally known as Highway 2A from 1929 to 1938.
In 1941, the road was extended by 40 km when a new township road in Kent County (Now Chatham-Kent, Ontario) was uploaded as Highway 98. This brought the highway up to its maximum length, and its eastern terminus was changed to Blenheim, Ontario.
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[edit] Designations and History
Originally, this road was designated as Highway 2. When Highway 2 was first numbered (in 1925, though it was in provincial power since 1917), it started at the ferry dock between Dougall Avenue and Ouellette Avenue in downtown Windsor, concurrent with Highway 3. Highways 2 and 3 travelled down Ouellette Avenue to Tecumseh Road, where it made a short 3-block jog west to Dougall Avenue. It then travelled south to Talbot Road, and headed east along Talbot Road to Malden Road in Maidstone, Ontario.
From here, Highways 2 and 3 parted ways. Highway 3 continued to Essex and Leamington (via County Road 34's present alignment), while Highway 2 travelled up Malden Road to Middle Road (Essex CR 46), and continued to Tilbury, Chatham, London and points east.
[edit] 1929: The Great Renumbering
In 1929, the Ambassador Bridge opened, offering the first direct and permanent link to Detroit. This caused a cascade of route re-numberings in the Windsor and Maidstone areas.
Highway 2 was rerouted along North Talbot Road, and diverted onto the newly-built Provincial Road, leading northwest to Howard Avenue. At Howard, the road turned west along Tecumseh Road to Ouellette Avenue, turning north and terminating at the ferry docks.
In 1931, Highway 2 was re-routed along County Road 42's current path, and the precursor to Highway 98 was re-designated as Highway 2A, and this lasted until 1938, when it was re-designated as Highway 98.
To simplify things, the following designations for Highway 98 are listed below:
- Highway 2 (1925-1929)
- Highway 2A (1929-1938)
- Highway 98 (1938-1970)
[edit] Enter the Superhighway
When the section of Highway 401 opened in 1952 between Windsor and Tilbury, traffic began to decline, favouring the more direct and faster freeway over the two-lane road. Upon the completion of Highway 401's four lanes (having been twinned in 1965), traffic declined rather sharply, and this once-important alternate highway had lost its reason for existence, almost overnight. It was decommissioned in early 1970.
Until the great highway downloading spree of 1997 and 1998, this was the longest provincial highway entirely lost to downloading.
