History of King's Highway 98:
King's Highway 98 served as an alternate route to Highway 2 and Highway 3 in Southwestern Ontario in the days before the completion of Highway 401. Highway 98
was created out of a route renumbering in 1938. That year, the entire 55 km route of Highway 2A between Windsor and Tilbury was redesignated as Highway 98.
The original highway from Windsor to Tilbury was already paved when the route number change occurred in 1938. In 1941, the highway was extended easterly
from Tilbury to Blenheim. On April 30, 1941, the Department of Highways assumed the Middle Line via Merlin and Charing Cross as a new section of
Highway 98. The 1941 extension added roughly 40 km to the highway's length. This new extension essentially completed Highway 98, and brought its total
length up to 96 km. This new section of Highway 98 was mostly gravel-surfaced when it was assumed. The only paved section on the new eastern leg of
Highway 98 was from Charing Cross to Blenheim. The highway was paved from Charing Cross to Merlin in 1946. The final gravel section on Highway 98 between
Merlin and Tilbury was paved in 1950.
With the final completion of all four lanes of Highway 401 in 1965, traffic volumes on Highway 98 quickly declined. This situation was exacerbated by the
fact that Highway 98 was flanked by Highway 2 and Highway 3 for its entire length, and these two routes had also witnessed a precipitous decline in traffic
volumes in the years following the completion of Highway 401. The once-important alternate route offered by Highway 98 had suddenly become redundant and
the province sought to divest itself of the highway as quickly as possible. Accordingly, the ownership of the section of Highway 98 between Tilbury and
Windsor was transferred to the County of Essex on April 1, 1970. The remaining section of Highway 98 between Tilbury and Blenheim was transferred to the
County of Kent on May 21, 1970. Up until the mass highway downloading of 1997-1998, Highway 98 was the longest provincial highway in Ontario to be lost
entirely to downloading.
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