Riverside Drive is one of the main

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

s in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, travelling along the

Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively refe ...

, between its riverfront

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

s and high-rise

office tower A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...

s and

apartment building An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

s. The road travels through

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

, and towards the east end. The road is roughly 17.5 km in length, and is quite busy. The road continues as Riverside Drive through the town of

Tecumseh, Ontario Tecumseh is a town in Essex County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is on Lake St. Clair east of Windsor and had a population of 23,229 at the 2016 census. It is part of the Windsor census metropolitan area, and is a part of the Windsor-Es ...

, and through the village of

St. Clair Beach, Ontario St. Clair Beach is a community on Lake Saint Clair in the town of Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada. Until 1998, the village was a separate entity (formerly part of Maidstone Township), but was amalgamated into Tecumseh. St. Clair Beach is known for it ...

, where it ends at Brighton Road (

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

County Road A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the County (United States), county highway departme ...

21). For around 3 km of its length (from Rankin Avenue to Crawford Avenue (in front of CBC Windsor), there are

bike lane Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles (marked with a solid white line, entry by motor v ...

s, with the Riverfront Bike Trail just to the north in the parkland. Much of Windsor's most expensive residential real estate is housed on the waterfront side of Riverside Drive.

Sandwich Street

The road was once named Sandwich Street, for the former community and now neighbourhood on the west end of Windsor. The road continues as Sandwich Street from the intersection with University Ave. West just past

Huron Church Road King's Highway 3, commonly referred to as Highway 3, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario which travels parallel to the northern shoreline of Lake Erie. It has three segments, the first of which travels from t ...

, and continues past

Ojibway Parkway King's Highway18, commonly referred to as Highway18, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario, located entirely within Essex County. Since 1998, the majority of the former route has been known as Essex County ...

to the

Brighton Beach Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach i ...

Power Plant,

Black Oak Heritage Park Black Oak Heritage Park is a park in Essex County, Ontario, Canada, located along the boundary between Windsor and LaSalle. History 1950-1970 - The Land was frequented by local hikers and was called ''Yawkey Bush''. 1989 - Land was acquired by ...

, and the Brighton Beach neighbourhood of Windsor.

Riverside Drive Vista Project

Throughout late 2005, and all of 2006, Windsor City Council has been trying to convert and widen the sidewalk along Riverside Drive (from Strabane Avenue to roughly Lauzon Road), to improve cycling access from the west side and downtown to the east side. The road is currently two lanes for most of its length, having either bike lanes or upscale residential properties that extend from the riverfront to the roadway. The vista project will be a multimillion-dollar beautification project to plant trees, re-surface Riverside Drive, and re-surface sidewalks, possibly installing either bike lanes, or a

bike trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. The ...

along the road. Residents who reside on the eastern portion of Riverside Drive are angry that the road is treated like a

two-lane freeway A two-lane expressway or two-lane freeway is an expressway or freeway with only one lane in each direction, and usually no median barrier. It may be built that way because of constraints, or may be intended for expansion once traffic volumes ris ...

, with drivers speeding well above the posted speed limit of 50 km/h, and are calling for the City of Windsor to honour the promise made to them ten years ago to improve other roadways and divert the commuter traffic from their residential area.

References

Windsor Star

Mapquest

CHWI-TV 16/60 A-Channel Windsor

External links

Bike Trails at City of Windsor's website, CityWindsor.ca

City of Windsor "Riverside Vista" Plans
{{Roads in Windsor, Ontario County roads in Essex County, Ontario Bike paths in Windsor, Ontario Streets in Windsor, Ontario

Sandwich Street

Riverside Drive Vista Project

See also

References

External links