Banwell Road/ E.C. Row Interchange & Corridor Improvements

• Banwell Road Overpass and Interchange at E.C. Row Expressway
  Component 1 involves the construction of a new Banwell Road overpass and interchange at E.C. Row Expressway, watermain, storm sewer system, pavement, lighting, and multi-use trail system. This work began the week of September 15, 2025. The Province of Ontario, through the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), is contributing $50 million towards the construction of the interchange. Over the next several years the detours will vary depending on the stage of the work and will be limited as much as possible to minimize the impact on the commuting public.

  Where possible, specific works will be completed after hours and on weekends to minimize impact. Lane restrictions and traffic control measures are currently in place to complete various project elements including:

  • Installation of temporary traffic signals
  • Culvert and ditch re-alignment
  • Shoulder and median widening
  • Initial works on bridge abutments and center pier works

• Banwell Road Corridor Improvements
  Component 2 involves the widening of Banwell Road from a two (2) lane rural to six (6) lane urban cross section from approximately Mulberry Drive over E.C. Row Expressway to Intersection Road where it will taper to four (4) lanes crossing the CP railway crossing to merge with widened works recently completed by the County of Essex. This work also includes a new intersection for access to the NextStar plant site as well as the future Tecumseh Hamlet secondary planning area, watermain, storm sewer systems, stormwater management, multi-use trail, pavement, and lighting.

Species at Risk are the plants and animals that are most at risk of disappearing from Ontario. The loss of a species will disrupt our local ecosystems, including food chains and habitats, and disrupt the system’s ability to provide clean air, water, food, and medicine. This in turn threatens human health and well-being today and for future generations. Protecting Species at Risk is essential if we are to protect and recover the ecosystems we rely on. The Ontario Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA, 2007), protects native plants and animals in Ontario that are at risk of disappearing from the province.
In 2025, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP) issued a Social or Economic Benefit Permit (ESA Permit SW-D-001-25) to the City of Windsor for the ‘Banwell Road Infrastructure Improvement Project’.

This Permit allows the city to:

• Remove Species at Risk habitat to construct the new infrastructure.
• Salvage individual Species at Risk from areas within the construction footprint and relocate them to nearby areas where suitable habitat is available.

The Permit requires the city to:

• Monitor Species at Risk in relocation habitat areas to document results of the salvage efforts.
• Use ecological restoration techniques to create new habitats and to enhance nearby existing habitat areas so that overall, there remains suitable habitat on the landscape and these species continue to exist in the City of Windsor.

Butlers Gartersnake (Thamnophis butleri) – Endangered

• Butler’s Gartersnake is very rare. It lives in only two regions of Ontario: Windsor-Sarnia (Essex, Chatham-Kent, Lambton Counties, and Walpole Island), and Luther Marsh (Dufferin and Wellington Counties). The key threats facing Butler’s Gartersnake are habitat loss and fragmentation, along with road mortality, and lawn maintenance. Butler’s Gartersnake is a gentle, non-venomous snake that looks a lot like the common Eastern Gartersnake, but are generally shorter in length, and have a unique pattern and position of side stripes. Butler’s Gartersnake are ovoviviparous, meaning they give birth to live offspring! Instead of depositing eggs in nesting material, the eggs undergo incubation within the female. In mid to late summer, females give birth to 10-12 young snakes.

Reversed Haploa Moth (Haploa reversa)– Threatened

• Reversed Haploa Moth exists only in southern Ontario and is known from four extant subpopulations: Lambton, Norfolk, and Essex Counties, and the Coves in London. Threats to this species include loss of oak woodland and savanna habitats, habitat fragmentation, recreational activities and inappropriate habitat management that leads to competition with invasive species or tree canopy closure. Reversed Haploa Moths prefer oak savanna and oak woodland habitats but can also be found in areas where host plants occur. Most moths in the Haploa genus are associated with Eupatorum plant species. Little else is known about the lifecycle of this species. Male moths in the family Erebidae (which Reversed Haploa Moth belongs to) possess some of the most physically elaborate scent-disseminating structures known among moths and butterflies.

Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus) – Endangered

• Every year, many Hoary Bats are killed in collisions with wind turbines during their migration. Wind energy mortality combined with a decline in prey availability, loss of roosting habitat, and pollution has led to a drastic decline of Hoary Bats. They prefer forest habitats. They roost in the trees at the edge of a clearing where they forage for insects, catching them in the air. They eat moths, beetles, dragonflies, and other large insects. Females give birth horizontally and use the uropatagium (the membrane between their hindlegs) to catch the pups.

Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis) – Endangered

• North America’s most abundant “tree bats”. Like the Hoary Bat, many are killed in collisions with wind turbines during migration. This combined with a decline in prey availability, loss of roosting habitat, and pollution has led to a drastic decline of Eastern Red Bats. Eastern Red Bats are hard to spot; their distinctive orange to red colouring blends in with their surroundings. Hanging from a twig by a single foot and swaying slightly in the breeze, they can look like a dead leaf. They can survive temperatures as low as -5°C (or 23 °F) by using their heavily furred tail membrane like a blanket, wrapping themselves up almost completely.