 Highway 3 | |||||||
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| Talbot Trail | |||||||
 A map of Highway 3 Highway 3 Sections downloaded in 1997 and 1998 | |||||||
| Route information | |||||||
| Maintained by Ministry of Transportation of Ontario | |||||||
| Length | 258.2 km[1] (160.4 mi) Excludes two gaps of 145.0 km (90.1 mi) and 3.4 km (2.1 mi) | ||||||
| Existed | August 4, 1920–present | ||||||
| Section 1 | |||||||
| Length | 49.2 km (30.6 mi) | ||||||
| West end | Ambassador Bridge to   I-75 / I-96 in Detroit, Michigan | ||||||
| Major intersections | E.C. Row Expressway in Windsor Highway 401 – Windsor | ||||||
| East end |  Highway 77 near Leamington | ||||||
| Section 2 | |||||||
| Length | 187.9 km (116.8 mi) | ||||||
| West end |  Highway 4 near St. Thomas | ||||||
| Major intersections |  Highway 19 near Tillsonburg Highway 24 in Norfolk Highway 6 in Jarvis | ||||||
| East end | Townline Road at Wainfleet–Port Colborne boundary | ||||||
| Section 3 | |||||||
| Length | 21.1 km (13.1 mi) | ||||||
| West end |  Highway 140 in Port Colborne | ||||||
| East end | Rosehill Road in Fort Erie | ||||||
| Location | |||||||
| Country | Canada | ||||||
| Province | Ontario | ||||||
| Major cities | Windsor, St. Thomas, Port Colborne | ||||||
| Towns | Leamington, Tillsonburg, Simcoe, Dunnville, Fort Erie | ||||||
| Villages | Delhi, Jarvis, Cayuga | ||||||
| Highway system | |||||||
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King's Highway 3, commonly referred to as Highway 3, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario which travels parallel to the northern shoreline of Lake Erie. It has three segments, the first of which travels from the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor to Highway 77 in Leamington. The second portion begins at Talbotville Royal outside of St. Thomas at Highway 4, and travels to the western city limits of Port Colborne. The road is regionally maintained within Port Colborne as Niagara Regional Road 3, but regains its provincial designation at Highway 140. Its third and final terminus is at Edgewood Park, within the Fort Erie town limits. From there, the road continues as Niagara Regional Road 3 to the Peace Bridge, where drivers can cross to the United States. The total length of Highway 3 is 248.9 or 258.2 km (154.7 or 160.4 mi), consisting of 49.2 km (30.6 mi) from Windsor to Leamington, 187.9 km (116.8 mi) from Talbotville Royal to Port Colborne and 21.1 km (13.1 mi) from Port Colborne to Edgewood Park.
Until the late 1990s, Highway 3 formed a single continuous 413.2 km (256.8 mi) route from the Ambassador Bridge to near the Peace Bridge, but since then has had significant portion transferred to regional and county governments. A large segment of the route follows the historic Talbot Trail, a settlement road following the northern shore of Lake Erie constructed by Colonel Talbot in the early 1800s as part of a grand settlement plan along the lake front. East of Canborough, the road generally follows older settlement trails: Forks Road, connecting Dunnville with Wainfleet, portions of Sherk's Road, through Port Colborne to Gasline, and the Garrison Road, a military road built west from Fort Erie. The highway was initially designated in 1920, but not numbered until five years later. It originally connected to Niagara Falls, but was rerouted to Fort Erie following completion of the Peace Bridge in the late 1920s. Although a few portions of Highway 3 were upgraded in the years since, the highway generally follows the same route as it did in 1930. However, in 1997, segments through Port Colborne and Fort Erie were decommissioned as a provincial highway, followed by a segment of the route from Leamington to Talbotville Royal in 1998. All three now exist as county/regional roads. In Windsor, Highway 401 had terminated at a split interchange with Highway 3 where the freeway defaulted into Talbot Road, from 2011 to 2015 this segment of Highway 3 (Talbot Road and Huron Church Road) was realigned to accommodate the construction of the Highway 401 extension (also known as the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway, formerly Windsor-Essex Parkway).