The pairing bisected downtown Wallaceburg before reconvening prior to crossing the North Sydenham River on the Dundas Bridge.

[12][18] Base Line bypassed the downtown areas of both towns and already received a greater portion of large truck traffic than Highway 78.

[19] The concept was met with approval from Wallaceburg, Chatham Township, and Kent County officials, and surveying work was undertaken that summer.

[20] Wallaceburg later rescinded its support in September after the proposal was met with disapproval from local farmers, residents and businesses alike.

[9] While the DHO agreed to the swap, it set out the condition that it must be approved by a majority of local residents, effectively killing the proposal.

Several months later, an agreement between all parties was reached whereby the DHO rebuilt Base Line to provincial highway standards but Kent County retained ownership of the road.

[21] As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution platform in 1995, numerous highways deemed to no longer be of significance to the provincial network were decommissioned and responsibility for the routes transferred to a lower level of government, a process referred to as downloading.

As it generally served a regional function, Highway 78 was downloaded in its entirety on January 1, 1998, and transferred to the newly-formed municipality of Chatham-Kent.

[24][25] In January 1953, Wallaceburg mayor William Collins suggested converting James and Wellington Streets into a one-way pairing, following a similar experiment begun in Chatham in August 1951.

[note 1] The old steel structure, itself a previously-used railroad bridge from Ohio,[35] was outdated and in a state of disrepair when surveying work to replace it began in late January 1958.

[41] Just seventeen days later, a girder failure caused the North Branch Bridge to collapse partially, and it was permanently closed.

[34][45] It was ceremoniously opened to traffic seven months later by Highway Minister Fred Cass on July 27,[46] with the temporary Bailey bridge removed the following week.

[56] As part of a series of budget cuts initiated by premier Mike Harris under his Common Sense Revolution platform in 1995, numerous highways deemed to no longer be of significance to the provincial network were decommissioned and responsibility for the routes transferred to a lower level of government, a process referred to as downloading.