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

King's Highway 3C was a short King's Highway that connected Crystal Beach & Ridgeway to the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie. The highway was first assumed by the Ontario Department of Highways on June 20, 1934, at a total length of 12 km. The entire route was already paved when it was assumed as a King's Highway. This highway's "provincial" purpose is highly questionable, given that Highway 3 paralleled the route of Highway 3C only a short distance to the north. The highway changed little during its 36-year existence. It was downloaded to the newly-formed Regional Municipality of Niagara on September 1, 1970. Since that time, the former route of Highway 3C has been known as Niagara Regional Road 1.

The meaning of the peculiar "C" suffix assigned to this route is uncertain. The only other highway that was assigned a "C" suffix in Ontario was the mysterious (and likely unposted) route of Highway 40C in Downtown Sarnia during the 1960s. Accordingly, it is quite possible that Highway 3C was the only posted route in Ontario's history to bear a "C" suffix. While it is possible that the "C" suffix was merely assigned to differentiate this route from the other existing routes of Highway 3A and Highway 3B in Ontario, it doesn't explain why this particular highway was given its own distinct route suffix, when other suffixed designations in Ontario were often shared by two or more different routes. During the 1930s, the Department of Highways did not seem to mind having multiple highway routes bearing the same suffix existing simultaneously, even when the routes were in close proximity to one another. For example, this situation occurred in the Windsor area in the mid-1930s, where two distinct routes known as Highway 3B existed only a few miles apart. The reasons behind Highway 3C's rather unusual numbering may never be known.