🇨🇦 Windsor is a city in south-western 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 southernmost city in Canada and marks the south-western end of the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city is the third-most populated city in Southwestern Ontario, after London and Kitchener. The Detroit–Windsor urban area is North America's most populous trans-border conurbation, and the Ambassador Bridge border crossing is the busiest commercial crossing on the Canada–United States border.
Windsor is a major contributor to Canada's automotive industry and is culturally diverse. Known as the "Automotive Capital of Canada", Windsor's industrial and manufacturing heritage is responsible for how the city has developed through the years.
1Early settlement At the time when the first Europeans arrived in the 17th century, the Detroit River region was inhabited by the Huron, Odawa, Potawatomi and Iroquois First Nations. The land along the Detroit River was part of the Three Fires Confederacy between the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa and was referred to as Wawiiatanong or Wawiiatanong Ziibi meaning "where the river bends" in Anishinaabemowin.
1Later settlement A French agricultural settlement was established at the site of Windsor in 1749. It is the oldest continually inhabited European-founded settlement in Canada west of Montreal. The area was first named la Petite Côte ("Little Coast"—as opposed to the longer coastline on the Detroit side of the river). Later it was called La Côte de Misère ("Poverty Coast") because of the sandy soils near LaSalle.
Windsor's French-Canadian heritage is reflected in French street names such as Ouellette, Drouillard, Pelissier, François, Pierre, Langlois, Marentette, and Lauzon. The current street system (a grid with elongated blocks) reflects the Canadien method of agricultural land division, where the farms were long and narrow, fronting along the river. Today, the north–south street name often shows the name of the family that farmed the land where the street is today. The street system of outlying areas is consistent with the British system for granting land concessions. There is a large French-speaking minority in Windsor and the surrounding area, particularly in the Lakeshore, Tecumseh and LaSalle areas.
In 1797, after the American Revolution, the settlement of "Sandwich" was established. It was later renamed Windsor, after the town in Berkshire, England. The Sandwich neighbourhood on Windsor's west side is home to some of the city's oldest buildings, including Mackenzie Hall, originally built as the Essex County Courthouse in 1855. Today, this building is a community centre. The city's oldest building is the Duff-Baby House built in 1792. It is owned by Ontario Heritage Trust and houses government offices.
1History: 19th century The François Baby House in downtown Windsor was built in 1812 and houses Windsor's Community Museum, dedicated to local history.
Windsor was the site of a battle during the 1838 Upper Canada Rebellion. It was attacked by a band of 400 Americans and rebels from Detroit who burned a steamboat and two or three houses before being routed by the local militia. Later that year, Windsor also served as a theatre for the Patriot War.
In 1846, Windsor had a population of about 300. Two steamboats offered service to Detroit. The barracks were still manned. There were various types of tradesmen, a bank agency and a post office. The city's access to the Canada–US border made it a key stop for refugee slaves gaining freedom in the northern United States along the Underground Railroad. Many went across the Detroit River to Windsor to escape pursuit by slave catchers. There were estimated to be 20,000 to 30,000 African-American refugees who settled in Canada, with many settling in Essex County, Ontario.
Windsor was incorporated as a village in 1854 (the same year the village was connected to the rest of Canada by the Grand Trunk Railway/Canadian National Railway), then became a town in 1858, and gained city status in 1892.
The Windsor Police Service was established on July 1, 1867.
A fire consumed much of Windsor's downtown core on October 12, 1871, destroying more than 100 buildings.
The Windsor Star Centennial Edition in 1992 covered the city's past, its success as a railway centre, and its contributions to World War I and World War II fighting efforts. It also recalled the naming controversy in 1892 when Windsor aimed to become a city. The most popular names listed in the naming controversy were South Detroit, The Ferry (from the ferries that linked Windsor to Detroit), Windsor, and Richmond (the runner-up in popularity). Windsor was chosen to promote the heritage of new English settlers in the city and to recognize Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England. However, Richmond was a popular name used until World War II, mainly by the local post office.
1History: 20th century Sandwich, Ford City and Walkerville were separate legal entities (towns) until 1935. They are now historic neighbourhoods of Windsor. Ford City was incorporated as a village in 1912; it became a town in 1915, and a city in 1929. Walkerville was incorporated as a town in 1890. Sandwich was established in 1817 as a town with no municipal status. It was incorporated as a town in 1858 (the same year as neighbouring Windsor).
Windsor annexed these three towns in 1935. The nearby villages of Ojibway and Riverside were incorporated in 1913 and 1921, respectively. Both were annexed by Windsor in 1966. During the 1920s, alcohol prohibition was enforced in Michigan while alcohol was legal in Ontario. Rum-running in Windsor was a common practice during that time.
1Cityscape Ouellette Avenue is the historic main commercial street in downtown Windsor. It runs north–south, perpendicular to the Detroit River, and divides the city into east and west sections. Roads that cross Ouellette Avenue include the directional components East and West after their names. Address numbers on east–west roads in Windsor increase by 100 for each block travelled away from Ouellette Avenue and address numbers on north–south roads increase by 100 for each block travelled away from the Detroit River. In areas where the river curves, some numbers on north–south roads are skipped. For consistency across the city, all address numbers on north–south roads reset at either 600, for streets west of Walker Road, or 800 for those to the east, where the road crosses Wyandotte Street (which roughly parallels the Detroit River).
Windsor's Department of Parks and Recreation maintains 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of green space, 180 parks, 64 km (40 mi) of trails, 35 km (22 mi) of sidewalks, 60 parking lots, vacant lands, natural areas and forest cover within the city of Windsor. The largest park is Mic Mac Park, which can accommodate many different activities, including baseball, soccer, biking, and sledding. Windsor has numerous bike trails, the largest being the Ganatchio Trail on the far east side of the city. In recent years, city council has pushed for the addition of bicycle lanes on city streets to provide links throughout the existing trail network.
The Windsor trail network is linked to the LaSalle Trail in the west end, and is to eventually be linked to the Chrysler Canada Greenway (part of the Trans Canada Trail). The current greenway is a 42 km (26 mi) former railway corridor that has been converted into a multi-use recreational trail, underground utility corridor and natural green space. It begins south of Oldcastle and continues south through McGregor, Harrow, Kingsville, and Ruthven. The Greenway is a fine trail for hiking, biking, running, birding, cross country skiing and, in some areas, horseback riding. It connects natural areas, rich agricultural lands, historically and architecturally significant structures, and award-winning wineries. A separate 5 km (3.1 mi) landscaped trail traverses the riverfront between downtown and the Ambassador Bridge. Part of this trail winds through Windsor Sculpture Park displaying various modern and post-modern sculptures. Families of elephants (see picture), penguins, horses, and many other themed sculptures are found in the park.
1Economy Windsor's economy is primarily based on manufacturing, tourism, education, and government services.
The city is one of Canada's major automobile manufacturing centres and is home to the headquarters of Stellantis Canada. Automotive facilities include the Stellantis Canada minivan assembly plant, two Ford Motor Company engine plants, and several tool and die and automotive parts manufacturers.
Windsor has a well-established tourism industry. Caesars Windsor, one of the largest casinos in Canada, ranks as one of the largest local employers. It has been a major draw for U.S. visitors since opening in 1994 (as Casino Windsor). Further, the 1,150 km (710 mi) Quebec City – Windsor Corridor contains 18 million people, with 51% of the Canadian population and three out of the five largest metropolitan areas, according to the 2011 Census.
The city has an extensive riverfront parks system and fine restaurants, such as those on Erie Street in Windsor's Little Italy called "Via Italia", another popular tourist destination. The Lake Erie North Shore Wine Region in Essex County has enhanced tourism in the region.
Both the University of Windsor and St. Clair College are significant local employers and have enjoyed substantial growth and expansion in recent years. A full-program satellite medical school of the University of Western Ontario at the University of Windsor opened in 2008. In 2013, the university completed construction of a $112 million facility for its Faculty of Engineering.
Windsor is the headquarters of Hiram Walker & Sons Limited, now owned by Pernod Ricard. Hiram Walker founded its historic distillery in 1858 in what was then Walkerville, Ontario.
The diversifying economy is also represented by companies involved in pharmaceuticals, alternative energy, insurance, internet and software. Windsor is also home to the Windsor Salt Mine and the Great Lakes Regional office of the International Joint Commission.
1Technology There are a few established tech companies that have been in the region for years. Among them are Cypher Systems Group, a computer-based hardware wholesaler and software developer; AlphaKor Group, a technology company that provides IT services, custom software and mobile apps; and Red Piston, a media solutions company. There are also a few successful startups in area, including Sirved, a tech company that is building a restaurant discovery app; and Hackforge, a tech company that has built an app to compare hospital drive times, and has hosted a variety of tech-focused community events, such as a Wikipedia Hackathon.
The non-profit WEtech Alliance provides startups and local entrepreneurs with resources to get new technology companies started in the city.
In 2019, Dan Gilbert and Quicken Loans bought a building in Windsor with a plan to restore it. Once completed Quicken Loans will employ 50–100 people, mostly in the technology sector. Many are hoping that this is a catalyst for more companies to establish tech business in Windsor.
1Largest private-sector employers • FCA Canada (approx. 6,000 employees) • Caesars Windsor (approx. 3,000 employees) • Ford Motor Company (approx. 1,850 employees) • Sutherland Group Canada (approx. 1,350 employees) • AP Plasman Corp. (Build a Mold) (approx. 950 employees).
1Poverty Due to a strong reliance on the manufacturing sector, Windsor has experienced high levels of poverty and unemployment in a number of its 10 wards. Including a 33% rate of children living under the poverty line based on Statistics Canada. It has the highest rates in Southwestern Ontario and one of Windsor's electoral districts, Windsor West ranks 13th highest in poverty rates amongst the 338 federal ridings of Canada. Wards 2 (Sandwich/University District/West End) and 3 (City Centre) register some of the highest poverty rates at 44.65% and 44.94%. Wards 4 (Walkerville) and 8 (East Windsor) also register high poverty rates at 28.78% and 28.74% respectively.
1Culture and tourism Windsor tourist attractions include the Windsor International Film Festival, Caesars Windsor, a lively downtown club scene, Little Italy, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the Art Windsor-Essex gallery, the Odette Sculpture Park, Windsor Light Music Theatre, Adventure Bay Water Park, and Ojibway Park. As a border settlement, Windsor was a site of conflict during the War of 1812, a major entry point into Canada for refugees from slavery via the Underground Railroad and a major source of liquor during American Prohibition. Two sites in Windsor have been designated as National Historic Sites of Canada: the Sandwich First Baptist Church, a church established by Underground Railroad refugees, and François Bâby House, an important War of 1812 site now serving as Windsor's Community Museum.
The Capitol Theatre in downtown Windsor had been a venue for feature films, plays and other attractions since 1929, until it declared bankruptcy in 2007. The theatre is now a venue used for live orchestral concerts, lectures and dance performances. The Tea Party is a progressive rock band which has been based in Windsor since its foundation in 1990.
Windsor's nickname is the "Rose City" or the "City of Roses". The Liebeszauber (Love's Magic) rose has been designated as the City of Windsor Rose. Windsor is noted for the several large parks and gardens found on its waterfront. The Queen Elizabeth II Sunken Garden is at Jackson Park in the central part of the city. A World War II era Avro Lancaster was displayed on a stand in the middle of Jackson Park for over four decades but has since been removed for restoration. This park is now home to a mounted Spitfire replica and a Hurricane replica.
Of the parks lining Windsor's waterfront, the largest is the 5 km (3.1 mi) stretch overlooking the Detroit skyline. It extends from the Ambassador Bridge to the Hiram Walker Distillery. The western portion of the park contains the Windsor Sculpture Park which features over 30 large-scale contemporary sculptures for public viewing, along with the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The central portion contains Dieppe Gardens, Civic Terrace and Festival Plaza, and the eastern portion is home to the Bert Weeks Memorial Gardens. Further east along the waterfront is Coventry Gardens, across from Detroit's Belle Isle. The focal point of this park is the Charles Brooks Memorial Peace Fountain which floats in the Detroit River and has a coloured light display at night. The fountain is the largest of its kind in North America and symbolizes the peaceful relationship between Canada and the United States.
Each summer, Windsor co-hosts the two-week-long Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival, which culminates in a gigantic fireworks display that celebrates Canada Day and the Fourth of July. The fireworks display is among the world's largest and takes place on the final Monday in June over the Detroit River between the two downtowns. Each year, the event attracts over a million spectators to both sides of the riverfront. Windsor and Detroit also jointly cohost the annual Detroit Windsor International Film Festival, while festivals exclusive to Windsor include Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County Carrousel by the River and Carrousel Around the city, Bluesfest International Windsor and Windsor Pride.
Following the 2008 Red Bull Air Race World Championship in Detroit, Michigan, Windsor successfully put in a bid to become the first Canadian city to host the event. Red Bull touted the 2009 race in Windsor as one of the most exciting in the seven-year history of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, and on January 22, 2010, it was announced Windsor would be a host city for the 2010 and 2011 circuits, along with a select group of major international cities that includes Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Perth, Australia and New York City. The event attracted 200,000 fans to the Detroit River waterfront in 2009. The Red Bull air races were cancelled worldwide for 2011.
Dubbed the Great Canadian Flag Project, Windsor erected a 150-foot (46-metre) flagpole to fly a 60 feet by 30 feet (9.1 metres) by nine metres) Canadian flag in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Canada. Spotlights illuminate the flag at night, with a smaller 24 by 12 feet (7.3 by 3.7 metres) flag to fly during periods of strong winds. As of January 14, 2017, $300,000 had been raised for the project, including $150,000 from the federal government.
Windsor has often been the place where many metro Detroiters find what is forbidden in the United States. With a minimum legal drinking age of 21 in Michigan and 19 in Ontario, a number of 19 and 20-year-old Americans frequent Windsor's bars. The city also became a gambling attraction with Caesars Windsor's opening in 1994, five years before casinos opened in Detroit. One can also purchase Cuban cigars, Cuban rum, less-costly prescription drugs, absinthe, certain imported foods, and other items not available in the United States. In addition, some same-sex couples from the United States chose to marry in Windsor prior to 2015, when same-sex marriage was legalized in all 50 U.S. states.
1Media Windsor and its surrounding area has been served by the Windsor Star since 1888. The regional newspaper is the only daily in Windsor and Essex County and has attracted the highest readership per capita in its circulation range of any Canadian metropolitan newspaper.
The Windsor Independent is an alternative newspaper published once per month, featuring reviews, news, politics, arts, culture and entertainment.
Windsor is considered part of the Detroit television and radio market for purposes of territorial rights. Due to this fact, and its proximity to Toledo and Cleveland, radio and television broadcasters in Windsor are accorded a special status by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, exempting them from many of the Canadian content ("CanCon") requirements most broadcasters in Canada are required to follow. The CanCon requirements are sometimes blamed in part for the decline in popularity of Windsor radio station CKLW, a 50,000-watt AM radio station that in the late 1960s (prior to the advent of CanCon) had been the top-rated radio station not only in Detroit and Windsor, but also in Toledo and Cleveland.
Windsor has also been exempt from concentration of media ownership rules. Except for Blackburn Radio-owned stations CJWF-FM and a rebroadcaster of Chatham's CKUE-FM in Windsor, all other current commercial media outlets are owned by a single company, Bell Media.
The city is home to one campus radio station, CJAM-FM, situated on the University of Windsor campus. Windsor is also served by a few informational news websites including windsoriteDOTca News, a local news site; Radio Betna, a Middle Eastern community based web radio station; and YQG Rocks, which is one of the only media to review entertainment shows since the retirement of Windsor Star critic Ted Shaw.
1Education The University of Windsor is Canada's southernmost university. It is a research oriented, comprehensive university with a student population of 16,000 full-time graduate and undergraduate students. Now entering its most ambitious capital expansion since its founding in 1963, the University of Windsor recently opened the Anthony P. Toldo Health Education & Learning Centre, which houses the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. With the help of $40 million in Ontario government funding, the university also has recently finished construction of a 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m²), $112-million Centre for Engineering Innovation; a structure that establishes revolutionary design standards across Canada and beyond. The university is just east of the Ambassador Bridge, south of the Detroit River.
In Spring 2011, it was announced the University of Windsor would move its music and visual art programs downtown to be housed in the historic Armouries building and former Greyhound Bus Depot at Freedom Way and University Ave E. The move intended to bring an additional 500 students into the downtown core daily. The university also brought its School of Social Work to the old Windsor Star buildings on Ferry and Pitt Streets, bringing an additional 1,000 students into the downtown.
Windsor is also home to St. Clair College with a student population of 6,500 full-time students. Its main campus is in Windsor, and it also has campuses in Chatham and Wallaceburg. In 2007, St. Clair College opened a satellite campus in downtown Windsor in the former Cleary International Centre. In April 2010, St. Clair College added to its downtown Windsor presence with the addition of its MediaPlex school. Together, they bring over one thousand students into the downtown core every day. The college also opened the TD Student Centre on the corner of Victoria Avenue and University Avenue in 2012
More recently Collège Boréal opened an access centre and small campus to their Ouellette avenue location. This small campus offers access to many Collège Boréal programmes as well as immigration and integration assistance for francophones in the area. Collège Boréal is Windsor's only francophone post-secondary institution, providing service for a small, but notable, population of Franco-Ontarians within the Windsor-Tecumseh-Belle River area.
From 1995 to 2001, the city was home to a satellite campus of the defunct francophone Collège des Grands-Lacs.
1Public libraries The Windsor Public Library offers education, entertainment, along with community history materials, programs, and services. The main branch coordinates a literacy program for adults needing functional literacy upgrading. The local historical archives are here.
1Health systems There are two hospitals in Windsor: Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, formally Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital, and Windsor Regional Hospital. Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare is the result of an amalgamation of Grace Hospital and Hôtel-Dieu in 1994. The merger occurred due to the Government of Ontario's province-wide policy to consolidate resources into Local Health Integrated Networks, or LHINs. This was to eliminate duplicate services and allocate resources more efficiently across the region. The policy resulted in the closure of many community-based and historically important hospitals across the province. At this time, Hotel-Dieu Hospital does not do surgeries, nor does it have emergency room services. Its focus has moved away from traditional hospital services and provides more supportive healthcare.
Windsor Regional Hospital has formal and informal agreements with Detroit-area hospitals. For instance, pediatric neurosurgery is no longer performed in Windsor. Leamington District Memorial Hospital in Leamington, Ontario, serves much of Essex County and, along with the Windsor institutions, share resources with the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
Over eighteen thousand Windsor residents are employed in the health care profession.
1Transport Windsor is the western terminus of both Highway 401, Canada's busiest highway, and Via Rail's Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. Windsor's Via station is the nation's sixth-busiest in terms of passenger volumes.
Windsor has a municipal highway, E.C. Row Expressway, running east–west through the city. Consisting of 15.7 km (9.8 mi) of highway and nine interchanges, the expressway is the fastest way for commuters to travel across the city. E.C. Row Expressway is mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records as the shortest freeway that took the longest time to build as it took more than 15 years to complete. The expressway stretches from Windsor's far west end at Ojibway Parkway east to Banwell Road on the city's border with Tecumseh.
The majority of development in the city of Windsor and neighbouring town of Tecumseh stretches along the water instead of in-land. As a result, there is a lack of major east–west arteries compared to north–south arteries. Only Riverside Drive, Wyandotte Street, Tecumseh Road, County Road 42/Cabana Road and the E.C. Row Expressway serve the almost 30 km (19 mi) from the west end of Windsor eastward. All of these roads, especially the E.C. Row Expressway are burdened with east–west commuter traffic from the development in the city's east end and suburbs further east. There are eight north–south roads interchanging with the expressway: Huron Church Road, Dominion Boulevard, Dougall Avenue, Howard Avenue, Walker Road, Central Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, and Lauzon Parkway. Traffic backups on some of these north–south roads at the E.C. Row Expressway are common, mainly at Dominion, Dougall, Howard, and Walker as the land south of the expressway and east of Walker is occupied by Windsor airport and there has been little development.
Windsor's many rail crossings intersect with these north–south thoroughfares. In October 2008, the Province of Ontario completed a grade separation at Walker Road and the CP Rail line. Another grade separation was completed in November 2010 at Howard Avenue and the CP Rail line. In both cases, the road travels under the rail line and both have below grade intersections with an east–west street. These were planned as parts of the "Let's Get Windsor-Essex Moving" project funded by the Province of Ontario to improve local transportation infrastructure.
Windsor is connected to Essex and Leamington via Highway 3, and is well connected to the other municipalities and communities throughout Essex County via the county road network. Nearly 20,000 vehicles travel on Highway 3 in Essex County on a daily basis. It is the main route to work for many residents of Leamington, Kingsville and Essex.
Windsor is linked to the United States by the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel, a Canadian Pacific Railway tunnel, and the Detroit–Windsor Truck Ferry. The Ambassador Bridge is North America's No. 1 international border crossing in terms of goods volume: 27% of all trade between Canada and the United States crosses at the Ambassador Bridge.
Windsor has a bike trail network including the (Riverfront Bike Trail, Ganatchio Bike Trail, and Little River Extension). They have become a blend of parkland and transportation, as people use the trails to commute to work or across downtown on their bicycles.
1Transport: Air The city is served by Windsor International Airport, a regional airport with scheduled commuter air service by Air Canada Express, Porter Airlines, Westjet, and Sunwing, along with heavy general aviation traffic. The majority of destinations are within Ontario with the exception of seasonal routes to Calgary, Alberta and a variety of Caribbean destinations.
The Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is approximately 40 km (25 mi) across the border in Romulus, Michigan and is the airport of choice for many Windsor residents as it has regular flights to a larger variety of destinations than Windsor Airport.
Shuttle buses and cars are within driving distance to larger airports like London International Airport, John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport and to Canada's busiest airport and international hub Toronto Pearson International Airport.
1Waterways The Port of Windsor, which covers 21.2 km (13.2 mi) of shoreline along the Detroit River is part of the Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence Seaway System. Accessible to both Lake freighters and ocean-going vessels, the port is the third largest Canadian Great Lakes port in terms of shipments behind only Hamilton and Thunder Bay. Cargos include a wide range of products such as aggregates, salt, grain, fluorspar, lumber, steel, petroleum, vehicles and heavy lift equipment.
1Transport: Road A public transport bus service is provided by Transit Windsor, the city-owned bus company, operating 15 fixed bus routes with a fleet of 114 vehicles through the city as well as providing transportation for many of the city's secondary school students and a service to downtown Detroit. Transit Windsor shares its newly constructed $8 million downtown Transit Terminal with Greyhound Lines. The new depot opened in 2007. Current bus fare is $3.00 for all riders except children under 5 on regular service routes. Fares for attending students are $2.00. Tunnel bus fares are $5.00 and both American and Canadian currencies are accepted on the tunnel bus.
1Transport: Rail Windsor has a long history with rail travel in both passenger service and freight due to the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel. Intercity passenger railway service is provided by Via Rail throughout the region via the Windsor Railway Station. The region also used to have a second station, the Windsor Michigan Central Railroad Depot – before it was destroyed in a fire – which historically served the Canada Southern Railway, New York Central Railroad and Amtrak.
1Bridges to Detroit A major and controversial issue is the amount of traffic to and from the Ambassador Bridge. The number of vehicles crossing the bridge has doubled since 1990. However, the total volume of traffic has been declining since the September 11 attacks.
Access to the Ambassador Bridge is via two municipal roads: Huron Church Road and Wyandotte Street. A large portion of the traffic consists of tractor-trailers. There have been at times a wall of trucks up to 8 km (5.0 mi) long on Huron Church Road. This road cuts through the west end of the city and the trucks are the source of many complaints about noise, pollution and pedestrian hazards. In 2003, a single mother of three, Jacqueline Bouchard, was struck and killed by a truck at the corner of Huron Church and Girardot Avenue in front of Assumption College Catholic High School, a tragedy argued to be due to a lack of practical safety precautions.
Windsor City Council hired traffic consultant Sam Schwartz to produce a proposal for a solution to this traffic problem. City councillors overwhelmingly endorsed the proposal and it was presented to the federal government as a "Made in Windsor" solution. Not all of the surrounding residents supported the plan. One problem with the plan is the proposed road would cut through protected green spaces such as the Ojibway Prairie Reserve.
In 2005, the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC — a joint Canadian-American committee studying the options for expanding the border crossing) announced its preferred option was to extend Highway 401 directly westward to a new bridge spanning the Detroit River and interchange with Interstate 75 somewhere between the existing Ambassador Bridge span and Wyandotte.
On April 9, 2010, the City of Windsor, along with local cabinet ministers Dwight Duncan and Sandra Pupatello of the Province of Ontario, announced a final decision had been made in the plans to construct the Windsor-Essex Parkway, the new Highway 401 extension leading to a future crossing. The announcement indicated the project will be the most expensive road ever built in Canada on a per kilometre basis, and included commitments to enhance green space design through the use of berming, landscaping, and other aesthetic treatments. As part of negotiations with the City of Windsor (who threatened legal action in pursuit of more tunnelling and green space of the route), the province agreed to additional funding to infrastructure projects in Windsor-Essex; this includes money for the improvement to the plaza of the Canadian side of the Windsor-Detroit tunnel, the widening and other improvements of Walker Rd between Division Rd and E.C. Row Expressway, and the environmental assessment and preliminary design of a future extension of Lauzon Parkway to Highway 401.
1Windsor was ranked #1096 by the Nomad List which evaluates and ranks remote work hubs by cost, internet, fun and safety. Windsor has a population of over 229,660 people. Windsor also forms part of the wider Detroit metropolitan area which has a population of over 4,248,699 people. Windsor is the #221 hipster city in the world, with a hipster score of 3.3342 according to the Hipster Index which evaluates and ranks the major cities of the world according to the number of vegan eateries, coffee shops, tattoo studios, vintage boutiques, and record stores. Windsor is ranked #671 for startups with a score of 0.223.
To set up a UBI Lab for Windsor see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork
Twin Towns, Sister Cities Windsor has links with:
🇨🇳 Changchun, China 🏴 Coventry, England 🇯🇵 Fujisawa, Japan 🇨🇦 Granby, Canada 🇰🇷 Gunsan, South Korea 🇸🇻 Las Vueltas, El Salvador 🇵🇱 Lublin, Poland 🇩🇪 Mannheim, Germany 🇲🇰 Ohrid, North Macedonia 🇫🇷 Saint-Étienne, France 🇲🇽 Saltillo, Mexico 🇮🇹 Udine, Italy🇺🇸 Dorchester 42.317
🇺🇸 Sterling Heights -83.001
🇺🇸 Rogersville -83
🇺🇸 Waynesville -82.983
🇺🇸 Chillicothe -82.983
🇺🇸 Clinton Township -82.917
Locations Near: Windsor -83.0339,42.3178
🇺🇸 Detroit -83.045,42.329 d: 1.6
🇺🇸 Dearborn -83.2,42.3 d: 13.8
🇺🇸 Warren -83.033,42.5 d: 20.3
🇺🇸 Royal Oak -83.133,42.483 d: 20.1
🇺🇸 St. Clair Shores -82.9,42.483 d: 21.4
🇺🇸 Saint Clair Shores -82.9,42.483 d: 21.4
🇺🇸 Dearborn Heights -83.281,42.336 d: 20.4
🇺🇸 Southfield -83.233,42.467 d: 23.3
Antipodal to: Windsor 96.966,-42.318
🇦🇺 Bunbury 115.637,-33.327 d: 18100.8
🇦🇺 Mandurah 115.721,-32.529 d: 18040.2
🇦🇺 Rockingham 115.717,-32.267 d: 18022.1
🇦🇺 City of Cockburn 115.833,-32.167 d: 18006.6
🇦🇺 Vincent 115.834,-31.936 d: 17990.1
🇦🇺 Perth 115.857,-31.953 d: 17989.6
🇦🇺 Cannington 115.934,-32.017 d: 17988.6
🇦🇺 Wanneroo 115.803,-31.747 d: 17978.7