Known as Canada's ceremonial road,[2][3][4] Sussex Drive is a boulevard through the ByWard Market, Lower Town and New Edinburgh neighbourhoods of Ottawa.

[6] The City of Ottawa, which has jurisdiction over the entire route, classifies Sussex Drive as an urban arterial road throughout its length.

[7] Sussex Drive begins at a traffic circle adjacent to Rockcliffe Park, through which the roadway continues as Sir George-Étienne Cartier Parkway.

Sussex Drive proceeds south-southwest, parallel to the southern shoreline of the Ottawa River, as a two-lane road with a central raised median or turn lane.

[1][6][11] Crossing over the southern end of the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, Sussex Drive passes the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat and the Embassy of Saudi Arabia.

[12] The Global Centre for Pluralism, which opened in the former Canadian War Museum in 2017, and the Embassy of Kuwait immediately follow the previous two buildings on either side of the road.

[1][6] At the Alexandra Bridge approach, Sussex Drive becomes a northbound one-way arterial road paired with Mackenzie Avenue, which serves southbound traffic.

[1][6] The Daly Building once stood between Sussex and Mackenzie on the north side of Rideau Street, but was demolished in the early 1990s and replaced by a residential condominium in 2005.

Originally it was the primary road in Ottawa, serving to connect the former Union Station (now the Senate of Canada Building) with the Queen's Wharf at the foot of the Rideau Canal.

[16] These buildings, as well as houses, shops and hotels, were built following the passage of the Vesting Act in 1843, which subdivided the land in Lower Town, as well as the arrival of the railway in 1854.

[54] Throughout the mid-20th century, a large portion of Ottawa saw massive gentrification under the Greber Plan,[55] which was produced by Jacques Gréber in 1949 under the direction of Prime Minister Mackenzie King.

[57] The plan called for the complete reorganization of Ottawa's road and rail network, including numerous parkways and an east to west expressway (The Queensway) along what was then a Canadian National Railway line.

In particular, the demolition of the 100-year-old Goulden Hotel at the corner of Bruyere Street drew the ire of locals and set forth a movement to preserve the historic character of the road.

While a number of a buildings were determined to be unfit and demolished, the remainder saw fire exits moved from the street, and facades sand-blasted, painted, and embellished to recreate an 1867 appearance.

[68] However, the plan was never fully realised due to a number of a factors, including a shift in government with the election of Lester B. Pearson in 1963, as well as other more urgent priorities such as the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge approaches, Union Station, and Highway 417.

[70] Following the removal of the railways into Union Station in 1966, planning for the Rideau Centre commenced, which would result in several changes to the street network in the ByWard Market.