The Roy A. Battagello River Walk Bike Trail is the current backbone of the "Windsor Loop" bike trail network in Windsor, Ontario. The bike trail travels from the foot of the Ambassador Bridge (at Peter Street and Huron Church Road), to traffic lights at Riverside Drive and Lincoln Avenue (continuing as bike lanes to George Avenue and Wyandotte Street, for a total distance of 8.0km (5.0mi)). This makes the trail the second-longest trail in the City of Windsor (the longest being the mostly-unpaved West Windsor Recreationway), at 8.0km.
The trail travels through Windsor's downtown, and many of its parks, such as Dieppe Gardens. Many cities across North America (such as Detroit, Michigan, Toledo, Ohio, Toronto, Ontario, New York City, New York, and San Francisco, California) have expressed interest in similar riverfront parkland and bike trails, and many (such as Detroit) have already started construction on their own parks and trails. Throughout its history, the trail was repeatedly widened and upgraded, and even is paved with the original asphalt and cement used on the Ambassador Bridge. The trail has a posted speed limit of 20km/h.
Start and end points
The bike trail starts officially at Peter Street and Huron Church Road, across the street from the University of Windsor. It crosses several streets via traffic lights, and ends at Lincoln Avenue and Riverside Drive at another pair of stoplights. It provides a very efficient and quick way of walking or biking across the city (or even as a downtown bypass). It continues down Riverside Drive as a pair of Bike Lanes, towards Strabane Avenue. However, between Riverside Drive/Huron Church Road, and Lincoln Avenue, there are NO stoplights, providing a very quick and effective way of travelling across the city. One feature found only on River Walk Bike Trail and the Ganatchio Trail are that they are wide-enough for three "lanes" each way, meaning three bicycles can drive abreast in each direction without worrying about a collision.[citation needed] It is along this part of the bike trail that the Odette Sculpture Garden is located.
Service centers
The Riverfront Trail is unique among the City of Windsor's Bike Trails, in having service centers along its route. There are five service centers along the trail. One is located at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Huron Church Roads, one at the foot of Askin Avenue, one at Bridge Avenue, one situated in front of Caesars Windsor and Civic Terrace, and one along the park and trail near the Hiram Walker/Canadian ClubDistillery.
Connections with other trails
The Riverfront Trail currently connects to the Russell Street Neighbourhood Trail and the College Avenue Recreationway via Bike-Friendly Routes (sign-designated residential streets used as connectors, where cyclists have more safety than on busy arterial roads). The Russell Street Neighbourhood Trail will have a direct connection to the Riverfront Trail within the next 10 years. See the Expansion section below for more information.
In 2003, the City of Windsor began placing small Trans-Canada Trail signs along the Trail's route, from the Ambassador Bridge to Church Street, its current "ending". This may be a sign of a future link with the Chrysler Canada Greenway, which travels all the way through Harrow, Ontario, through Kingsville, Ontario to Leamington, Ontario. The City of Windsor intends on signing the Trans Canada Trail along the Riverfront Bike Trail (and the West Windsor Recreationway) to its link with the LaSalle Trail, in LaSalle, Ontario, with a separate link heading to the current Chrysler Canada Greenway.
Cleary Guest House
The Cleary Guest House (also known as the Queen Elizabeth rest stop) was the focus of a recent controversy in regard to tearing down the structure and replacing it with a new service center of the same name. On May 8, 2007, the Cleary Guest House was torn down (and a temporary detour for the trail was made), to make way for a "Peace Beacon". See below for what has succeeded the Queen Elizabeth Guest House.
Upgrades
"The Bistro at the River" opened in summer 2007.
In June 2006, construction and upgrades were completed near the Caron Street Pumping Station, just across from the CBC Windsortelevision studio. The pedestrian traffic was segregated onto its own path, and cyclists were given priority over a small portion of the bike trail (around a kilometre in length), with the introduction of a playground and expanded (and paved) parking lot for people to park and ride.
The city and Windsor Star have done a poll on AM 800 CKLW at the beginning of September 2006, and the respondents said they would like to have a small casual restaurant along the trail (such as a pizza stall), near the Cleary Guest House for joggers, park-goers, and cyclists. The City of Windsor commented that it would be below-ground, to keep parkland open and allow an unobstructed view of the Detroitskyline.
In place of the torn-down Queen Elizabeth Guest House, a much larger and better-accessible restaurant was built into the hillside at the corner of Ouellette Avenue and Riverside Drive, with an expanded parking lot next to it. The new restaurant is named "The Bistro at the River" and is run by the local "Naples Pizza" chain of pizza parlours.
The parking lot at Dieppe gardens has been expanded, along with the grassedparkland and flower gardens. The Rivefront Trail has also been re-aligned and straightened, with sidewalks linking the Riverfront Trail to The Bistro at the River, and its new parking lot.
Talks of expansion
Recently, the City of Windsor's Department of Parks and Recreation, announced a 1.1 m extension along Riverside Drive to link the Russell Street Recreationway, although no timeline has been set, but will incorporate the sidewalk into a widened bike trail, which will minimize costs and congestion.
As of 2006, Windsor City Council has been in talks with CN Rail and Hiram Walker Distillery on buying a spur line, and converting the railroad tracks into a rail trail, for easy connection to the Ganatchio Trail and the Little River Extension in the east end. This is boosted by the fact that the Via Rail train station downtown ("Windsor-Walkerville") is old and over-crowded. The City even has several plans in the event of a relocation of railways:
Via trains would be re-routed to use the tracks near the Windsor Airport, placing them on the same rails that the Amtrak trains use, possibly allowing for quicker Chicago-Toronto passenger service (instead of via Sarnia, Ontario)
Hiram Walker Distillery would be provided compensation for the loss of railway, in an unspecified manner. The tracks would be torn up in favour of a road or long park and cycleway, making the city much safer, as many people have died in fatal automobile-train accidents.
Until the railway can be bought (and if the deal fails), the bike lanes along Wyandotte Street East would be extended to St. Rose Avenue, where they would meet the Ganatchio Trail.
Although the trail is indirectly connected to the nearby Russell Street Neighbourhood Trail, there is no direct connection yet, and many people have been wanting City Council to approve a direct connection along Riverside Drive. This has been announced that it will go through, but may take a few years, as more pressing bike trails require attention (such as the cross-town connection to the Ganatchio Trail). This link will make travel to the Sandwich Town neighbourhood safer. Another possible link is the Riverside Drive Vista Project. See that article for more information.
The City of Windsor's Parks and Recreation department has rectified the gap between the Riverfront Trail and Sandwich Towne and its Russell Street Neighbourhood Trail, by extending bicycle lanes along University Avenue and Sandwich Street, all the way to Prince Road.
Windsor Loop
The City of Windsor has expressed intentions on creating a bike trail, bike lane, and signed-route/Bike-Friendly Street "beltway around Windsor, using pre-existing routes, lanes, and trails, and adding new ones to streets. The trail would use the Riverfront Bike Trail and Ganatchio Trail to the north, the West Windsor Recreationway to the west, a new alignment following Cabana Road to the Devonwood Conservation Area. The Loop would also follow the current Devonwood Bike Trail, following along North Service Road and E.C. Row Expressway to the subdivision of Forest Glade, where it would turn north on Lauzon Road (not Lauzon Parkway), and follow the current signed route and path along Hawthorne Drive (a residential street), to the Little River Extension, before meeting back up with the Ganatchio Trail at the roundabout/traffic circle. This route has not been completed yet, but several segments are already in place. The loop has a couple crossings at E.C. Row interchanges, which are extremely busy, and could pose a potential safety hazard to cyclists. The city hopes to finish the Loop "within the next 20 years".
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 southernmost city in Canada and marks the southwestern end of the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city's population was 229,660 at the 2021 census, making it 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.
Stretching over 3600 km from Prince Township, west of Sault Ste. Marie, to the Quebec border, the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is a signed route of interconnecting roads and off-road trails joining over 150 communities and First Nations along the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. A celebration of nature and culture, the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is part of a strategy to protect and connect people to the largest group of freshwater lakes on earth. It is a legacy project of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust, a charity, and its community partners. Through Toronto, the trail is called the Martin Goodman Trail. The Waterfront Trail is also used by commuters in parts of Southern Ontario.
The Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, formerly the Ottawa River Parkway, is a four-lane scenic parkway along the Ottawa River in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from Carling Avenue near Connaught Avenue, to Booth Street at the Canadian War Museum and National Holocaust Monument. It is maintained by the National Capital Commission. The speed limit is 60 km/h (37 mph). Bicycles are allowed on the road and on a parallel recreational path along the parkway.
Transit Windsor provides public transportation in the city of Windsor, Ontario, Canada as well as LaSalle, Essex, Kingsville, Amherstburg and Leamington and serves more than 6 million passengers each year, covering an area of 310 km2 (120 sq mi) and a population of 218,000. They operate a cross border service between the downtown areas of Windsor and Detroit, Michigan via the Tunnel Bus, and service to events at Detroit's Comerica Park, Little Caesars Arena, TCF Center, and Ford Field. The Windsor International Transit Terminal neighbours with the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre.
Windsor's Department of Parks and Recreation maintains 3,000 acres (12 km2) of green space, 180 parks, 40 miles (64 km) of trails, 22 miles (35 km) of sidewalk, 60 parking lots, vacant lands, natural areas and forest cover within the City of Windsor, as well as the Bike Trails, Bike Lanes, and Bike-Friendly Streets.
The Ganatchio Trail is the second bike trail built in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Construction on the trail started upon the closure of Clairview Avenue. The trail extends over 5.3 km, and passes through several neighbourhoods, including Riverside and Little River, and serves Sandpoint Beach and Stop 26 Beach and Park. It was the second major trail constructed, after the Riverfront Bike Trail, with extensions east towards Tecumseh built in stages. The trail has a posted speed limit of 20 km/h. The Riverfront and the Ganatchio Trails are wide enough for two cycle lanes in each direction.
The Chrysler Canada Greenway is a 42 km-long rail trail in Essex County, Ontario, Canada, stretching from Oldcastle to Leamington.
The Little River Extension is one of the newest and busiest recreational trails in Windsor, Ontario, having been built in 1996. The trail is used mainly as a link between the large subdivision of Forest Glade, to Ganatchio Trail, Sandpoint Beach, Stop 26 Beach, and Lakeview Park And Marina. The trail has a posted speed limit of 20 kilometres per hour (12 mph).
The Devonwood Bike Trail is a fairly straight and flat bike trail in the southern end of the city of Windsor, Ontario. The path starts just south of E.C. Row Expressway at the intersection of Hallmark Avenue and Conservation Drive. The path has several short branches less than 100 m long to connect it to neighbouring cul-de-sacs, and passes through a couple parks. Its southern terminus is the end of the pavement as it enters the Essex Region Conservation Authority-controlled Devonwood Conservation Area, a heavily wooded animal and plant sanctuary. The trail also serves the Windsor Airport, Devonshire Mall, and the "Silver City" mall and theatre area via bike lanes on Calderwood Avenue and a paved trail along Walker Road.
The Russell Street Neighbourhood Trail is a short bike trail that travels through the historic Sandwich Town neighbourhood in western Windsor, Ontario. The trail passes by the Mill Street Dock, Chewett Beach / Chewett Park, and passes by Mackenzie Hall, one of the oldest buildings in Windsor.
Riverside Drive is one of the main roads in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, 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. The road is roughly 17.5 km in length, and is quite busy.
Windsor, Ontario, has a very diverse population, and this diversity is shown in its many neighbourhoods. Windsor has twenty in all, ranging from rural farmland to densely built-up areas.
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 Road20. The route travelled at the southernmost point in Canada, along or near the shoreline of the Detroit River and Lake Erie between Windsor and Leamington, with Highway 3 as the terminus at both ends. The former route provides access to the communities of LaSalle, Amherstburg, Malden Centre, Harrow, Kingsville and Union.
Grand Marais Road is a road that travels through Windsor, Ontario. Its use and significance has dwindled considerably following the completion of the E.C. Row Expressway.
The Grand Marais Trail is the name of a small bicycle trail that follows Turkey Creek in the middle of Windsor, Ontario. It starts off as a minor spur route, connecting the West Windsor Recreationway with Huron Church Road and the neighbourhood of South Windsor.
Royal York Road, historically known as Church Street or New Church Street, is a north-south arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 5 concessions (10 km) west of Yonge Street, and runs through many residential neighbourhoods, most notably Mimico and the Kingsway. It is classified as a "minor arterial" road by the city of Toronto.
Detroit is a popular city for cycling. It is flat with an extensive road network with a number of recreational and competitive opportunities and is, according to cycling advocate David Byrne, one of the top eight biking cities in the world. The city has invested in greenways and bike lanes and other bicycle-friendly infrastructure. Bike rental is available from the riverfront and tours of the city's architecture can be booked.
This is a list of trails and greenways in Detroit.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
