Ontario Highway 43B (Winchester) History - The King's Highways of Ontario

A King's Highway 43B Business Route was established through the Village of Winchester in 1974, following the completion of the Winchester Bypass (Highway 31 New & Highway 43 New). The old route of Highway 43 through the village was renumbered as Highway 43B after the new bypass opened to traffic. The existence of the Winchester Business Route was only recently confirmed. Official Road Bulletins issued by the Ministry of Transportation & Communications during the mid-1970s make reference to Highway 43B through Winchester. It is believed that the Highway 43B Business Route was also signed concurrently with a Highway 31B Business Route as well, but this has not been confirmed for certain. The Official Road Bulletins only refer to this route as Highway 43B, but it is possible that the Highway 31B designation was omitted deliberately, simply due to the space constraints in that publication. It was common highway numbering practice at that time to sign any overlapped routes with corresponding B-routes for each of the two highways involved. It would also seem logical to sign a Highway 31B route as well, given that Highway 31 was the busier and more important route out of the two highways. In all likelihood, both highways were marked through Winchester

The Highway 43B Business Loop through Winchester was fairly short-lived. Provincial jurisdiction over Highway 43B through the Village of Winchester via Main Street and St. Lawrence Street was transferred to the Township of Winchester and the Village of Winchester, effective December 17, 1975. About 1.2 km of the old highway from Fred Street northwesterly to the Winchester Fairgrounds (the present day site of the Joel Steele Community Centre) was previously designated as a Municipal Connecting Link and was thus not under provincial jurisdiction even prior to the construction of the Winchester Bypass. A different, unrelated Highway 43B also existed in nearby Chesterville.