E. C. Row Expressway
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| E.C. Row Expressway |
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| E.C. Row, Highway 7087 (Secret Designation) | |
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| Length: | 18.3 km (11 mi) |
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| Formed: | 1969, finished in 1982 |
| From: | Ojibway Parkway intersection in West Windsor, Ontario |
| To: | City of Windsor/Town of Tecumseh Limits |
| Major cities: | Windsor |
The E C Row Expressway is an isolated freeway serving the central portion of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It runs generally east-west through the city, near its airport and various automotive manufacturing plants, among other areas. It is approximately 15 km (9.5 miles) long. The freeway was formerly part of Highway 2 but it was downloaded to municipal authorities in 1998 when Highway 2 was almost eliminated in its entirety. The speed limit is 100 km/h (62 mph).
Though it allows for easy travel across the city, it does not connect directly to Detroit, Michigan; the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit-Windsor Tunnel must be accessed by city streets. There is no direct connection to Highway 401.
For many years after Highway 2 was downloaded to municipal and county authorities in Ontario, E.C. Row Expressway was a city-owned and city-repaired road. In 2003, the Windsor Star reported that the Province of Ontario would assume responsibility of the expressway once more, and lists it having the secret designation of Highway 7087.[citation needed]
The expressway is named after Edgar Charles Row, the former president of Chrysler Canada 1951-1956.
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[edit] Original Plans
The original plans for the expressway (in 1969, at least) were for it to travel from current County Road 22, heading west along the southern edge of Belle River and Tecumseh, meeting up with the current two-lane freeway alignment (Pike Creek Bypass) just east of Puce, continuing as a freeway (without traffic lights at intersections, but with interchanges), and south through Lasalle down to just north of Amherstburg.
Due to costs and chronic labour strikes during the expressway's construction, the last section (from Ojibway Parkway to Huron Church Road) was finished in 1982 (as a two-lane freeway which was twinned in 1989), but completely opened as a two-lane freeway in 1986 (so work on the interchange with Huron Church Road could be completed), and is the only part of the freeway (other than from Lauzon Parkway east to Banwell Road) that is up to proper 400-Series Highway standards.
The road also experiences routine traffic jams, due to having only two lanes in both directions, while the original plan had three lanes, plus cement median (four lanes from just east of Howard Avenue, to just west of Dominion Boulevard).
[edit] Pros and Cons
Although the freeway does perform its job well of keeping crosstown and cross-county traffic off the main streets in Windsor, there are safety issues.
[edit] Pros
- Speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph)
- No traffic lights between Banwell Road (east end) and Ojibway Parkway (west end)
- Acts as a semi-bypass of the city
- Diverts truck traffic from Wyandotte Street or Tecumseh Road
- Easy to access
- Potential to be widened by 1-2 lanes in each direction, possibly with collector/distributor roads between Howard Avenue and Dominion Road
- Does not directly connect to the U.S. border, Detroit's freeway network, or the 401
[edit] Cons
- Terrible design standards, cloverleaf interchanges, weaving due to closely-spaced interchanges, rusted guardrails, cracked, rutted, and corrugated pavement, grade issues with ramps (some are steep with hairpin turns, requiring drivers to quickly hit the brakes from 100 km/h to 50 or even 40 km/h as they exit)
- traffic congestion
- Several deaths due to weaving from interchanges being spaced too close together (too easy to access).
- Many people say the road was unnecessary as it is too close to the city center
- Does not directly connect to the U.S. border, Detroit's freeway network, or the 401
- No direct access from Walker Road to E.C. Row (EB), or to Walker Road from E.C. Row (WB). Have to go through the Central Road intersection to continue to Walker. This is only temporary while construction of a railway underpass is underway to be completed towards the end of 2008
- The interchanges are spaced too close together due to lack of any real east-west arterial roads nearby that link South Windsor to Huron Church Road, and Devonshire Mall. The Expressway must then compensate for this network deficiency with several closely-spaced interchanges to closely-spaced (nearby and parallel) but very busy north-south arterial roads. The nearest major east-west arteries are Cabana Road and Tecumseh Road, both are roughly 2 km away, and both are already overburdened with traffic, with the rest being quiet residential streets, such as Grand Marais Road and Norfolk Street. The CN Rail tracks leading into the Van de Water rail yard (and to the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel) make up a huge obstacle into building, extending or widening any road nearby, particularly east-west arteries.
[edit] Exit list
| km[citation needed] | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matchette Road | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 2 | Huron Church Road (Highway 3) - Ambassador Bridge to USA | |
| 3 | Dominion Boulevard | |
| 4 | Dougall Avenue | |
| 4 | Howard Avenue | |
| 6 | Walker Road | Westbound exit is via Central Avenue exit |
| Central Avenue | ||
| 8 | Jefferson Boulevard | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
| 9 | Lauzon Parkway | |
| 10 | Banwell Road | at-grade intersection |
Banwell Road, the freeway ends and continues as Essex County Road 22, a major arterial roadway with at-grade intersections and traffic lights. The grass median ends at Lesperance Road; the road narrows to two lanes east of Manning Road (Essex County Road 19), continuing as the Pike Creek Bypass. There are currently proposals to build interchanges at Banwell Road (there is enough area to build an interchange with Banwell Road), and Manning Road (not as much room, a simple diamond may be the only option without expropriation), with a grade separation/overpass at Lesperance Road. The four-lane expressway would then be linked to an extended four-lane section of the Pike Creek Bypass, forming a single, long, 4-lane road from Amherstburg to just past Patillo Road, in Lakeshore.
[edit] Notes
- One kilometre west of Matchette Road, there is a light-controlled intersection with Ojibway Parkway.
- Dougall Avenue lost the designation of Highway 3B, and was formally decommissioned in 1998. It is now known as Dougall Avenue and Dougall Parkway (from Howard Avenue Interchange to Highway 401). (From Christopher J Bessert's article on Highway 3B)
- There is a proposal where the west end of E.C. Row will run parallel alongside the proposed Windsor-Essex Parkway, where there will be ramps connected to both of these highways, leading towards the U.S. border.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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