Chrysler Canada Greenway

The Chrysler Canada Greenway is a 42 km-long rail trail in Essex County, Ontario, Canada, stretching from Oldcastle (near Windsor) to Leamington.

History

The trail dates back to the late 1980s, when

distillery in Windsor, Ontario south and east to Leamington, Ontario

. This branch line was built by Hiram Walker in 1882, and extended all the way to Kingsville, and later Leamington in 1889.

A portion of the rail line from Windsor to Blenheim was abandoned in 1989, and the rail line was donated to the

Highgate and Muirkirk

.

By the year 2001,

railroad crossings on Highway 3). ERCA has stated they intend on converting the new trail from Amhurstburg to Essex as soon as funds become available, and stated this is part of their goal of improving the environment of Essex County, and for linking the communities in Essex County together via trails. There has been no word on if the Leamington-Comber rail corridor will be converted to a trail. ERCA, Ontario Parks and Parks Canada have stated interest on turning the entire abandoned rail corridor from Ruthven to St. Thomas into an extended Chrysler Canada Greenway, linking up with trails in Delhi and Simcoe, providing a single long trail corridor from Windsor to London and Kitchener, and even to Hamilton and Toronto (via the Waterfront Trail

). It is currently unknown if Leamington intends on converting its abandoned rail corridors to trails.

LaSalle, Ontario has also expressed its interest and intentions to link the Windsor Trail and its own LaSalle Trail network to the Chrysler Canada Greenway.

How to travel

The Greenway allows several different modes of transportation:

horseback riding and cross-country skiing

.

Alignment

The trail starts at the junction with

Kings Highway 3, but has signs to cross at the nearby Walker Road due to the dangerously high levels of traffic. The trail also has an unofficial "extension" which continues 2 km straight to its terminus with North Talbot Road. The Greenway also has five "Community Entrances", three of which (Harrow, Kingsville, and Ruthven) are of "service center

" standards.

The Greenway is currently all gravel, and it is unknown if there are any plans to pave it in the near future.

Note: Not all exits are initially listed. more will be added as information is received.

Municipality	Road/Intersection	kilometre post	Destinations	Notes
Windsor, Ontario	North Talbot Road	2 km	Ciociaro Club, AKO Camp	Windsor, Ontario
Tecumseh, Ontario	Kings Highway 3	0 km	Oldcastle, Ontario	Official Starting Point. Cross at Walker Road, 0.5 km west. Path continues for 2.0 km to North Talbot Road. Community Entrance.
Tecumseh, Ontario	South Talbot Road	2 km	Essex, Ontario
Essex, Ontario	Townline Road (Essex County Road 8)	4.9 km	River Canard, Ontario, Essex
Essex, Ontario	14th Concession Road	6 km
Essex, Ontario	13th Concession Road	7 km
Essex, Ontario	12th Concession Road	8 km
Essex, Ontario	11th Concession Road	9 km	McGregor, Ontario
Essex, Ontario	North Malden Road	9.5 km
Essex, Ontario	Essex County Road 12	12 km
Essex, Ontario	South Malden Road	13.5 km
Essex, Ontario	Essex County Road 18	15 km
Essex, Ontario	Walker Road (Essex County Road 11)	18.5 km
Harrow, Ontario	Ferris Road	23 km
Harrow, Ontario	McCormick Road	26 km
Kingsville, Ontario	Arner Townline (Essex County Road 23)	29 km		Schwabb Farms Community Entrance.
Kingsville, Ontario	McCain Sideroad	32 km	Pleasant Valley Campground	1.5-km bypass around Kingsville Golf and Country Club. Somewhat narrower than the rest of the Greenway.
Kingsville, Ontario	Kingsville Golf and Country Club Entrance	34 km	Kingsville Golf and Country Club
Kingsville, Ontario	Kingsville Train Station and Museum	36 km	Pelee Island (via ferry )	Kingsville Train Station, a former train station and museum, has been leased to a restaurant operator since 2008 and provides a rest stop along the Greenway in the town of Kingsville. Situated in downtown Kingsville.
Ruthven, Ontario	Graham Sideroad	40 km	Intersection with Ruthven Spur of trail	Ruthven, Ontario, Colasanti's Tropical Gardens . Trail splits into two paths: Ruthven-bound, and Colasanti-bound. Both are less than 2 km in length.
Ruthven, Ontario	Colasanti's Tropical Gardens	42 km		End of Trail.
Ruthven, Ontario	Talbot Road (Essex County Road 34)	42 km	Talbot Road (Essex County Road 34), Leamington, Ontario	End of Trail.

Extensions

Extensions of the trail are planned.

The Municipality of

farm tractors have to use dedicated bike lanes

along the very-busy Talbot Road, and this is dangerous, due to the high speed limit, trucks, hills, and curves. Currently, the parts east of CR 34 are navigable by bike or foot, but it is not recommended, as the brush is quite thick and it may still be private property.

The nearly all of the right-of-way along the former

Ridgetown (via Wheatley, Merlin, and Blenheim) is intact, and able to be converted into a rail trail

, and is either in the process of becoming one, or is in the planning stages.

ERCA has expressed its intentions on linking Amherstburg, McGregor, and Essex to the trail network via a 28-km long trail, with an intersection somewhere near

McGregor, Ontario

. This is already easily done, as ERCA owns the right of way, and a 1-km spur route leads into McGregor from the Greenway.

Aside from money, the insane traffic amounts on Highway 3 (which was scheduled to be twinned starting 2007) would pose a significant obstacle, unless the trail was routed along either an overpass/underpass, or through an intersection/Interchange, such as with Townline Road (County Road 8).

The City of Windsor has also expressed its intentions on linking its bike trail network to the Chrysler Canada Greenway. The most-likely candidate for this would be the

conservation area

(Devonwood Conservation Area).

External links

Map of ERCA's outdoor recreation sites

42°14′52″N 82°57′03″W / 42.247835°N 82.950897°W / 42.247835; -82.950897

History

How to travel

Alignment

Extensions

See also

External links