Ontario Highway 3C History - The King's Highways of Ontario

King's Highway 3C was a short collector highway which connected Crystal Beach and Ridgeway to Highway 3 at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie. The route was first assumed as a King's Highway in the 1930s. Preliminary Route Plans were prepared in the Spring of 1934 for a proposed King's Highway in Welland County. The proposed highway ran more or less parallel to Highway 3, but it offered a more direct connection between Fort Erie and the popular beach communities of Ridgeway and Crystal Beach via Dominion Road. The route of Highway 3C began at the intersection of Dominion Road and Ridge Road in Ridgeway and continued easterly to the western limits of the Village of Fort Erie. This section of Highway 3C was first assumed by the Department of Highways of Ontario (DHO) as a King's Highway on June 20, 1934. An additional 1/3-mile section of Highway 3C was assumed by the DHO on July 4, 1934, which extended from the western limits of the Village of Fort Erie easterly to Old Fort Erie. Provincial jurisdiction over Highway 3C came to an end at the intersection of Lakeshore Road and Dominion Road in front of Old Fort Erie. The DHO constructed 6 miles of concrete pavement along Highway 3C between Fort Erie and Ridgeway during 1934.

The section of Highway 3C running through the Village of Fort Erie along Lakeshore Road from Old Fort Erie easterly to the Peace Bridge was not assumed by the DHO, and thus that section of the highway remained under municipal jurisdiction. Although this non-assumed section of Highway 3C was not administered under any formal Municipal Connecting Link agreements between the Village of Fort Erie and the DHO, Highway 3C was apparently signed easterly from Old Fort Erie to Highway 3 at the Peace Bridge Entrance in order to provide route continuity. The highway changed little during its 36-year existence. Jurisdiction over Highway 3C was ultimately transferred or "downloaded" from the province to the newly-formed Regional Municipality of Niagara, effective September 1, 1970. Since that time, the former route of Highway 3C has been known as Niagara Regional Road 1 (Dominion Road).

The meaning of the peculiar "C" suffix assigned to this route is uncertain. Only two other highways were assigned a "C" suffix in Ontario. One was Highway 7C in Peterborough, which was established in 1933. The other was Downtown Sarnia's mysterious route of Highway 40C which existed for a number of years beginning in the 1960s. The reasons behind Highway 3C's rather unusual suffixed route number may never be known.