Sussex Drive
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Sussex Drive is a major street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs roughly parallel to the Ottawa River. Beginning at Rideau Street in the south, Sussex runs north and then bends northeast until MacKay Street where it becomes the Rockliffe Parkway.
Sussex is a particularly famous street in the capital, as it is home to the Prime Minister's residence at 24 Sussex Drive. It is also home to the Governor-General's residence at Rideau Hall and Ottawa's former city hall on Green Island. The building includes the Karsh-Masson Gallery.
Also located on Sussex are a number of embassies such as those of France and the United States, Major's Hill Park, the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian War Museum, the Royal Canadian Mint, Rideau Falls Park, the National Laboratories, and the Lester B. Pearson Building which is home to Foreign Affairs Canada.
Sussex was originally three different streets. The section in the Byward Market was originally named Metcalfe Street, and the portion east of the Rideau River was known as Ottawa Street. The centre portion was then known as Sussex Street. They were merged into one street in the nineteenth century.
In the 1960s the National Capital Commission launched a beautification campign through the market section of the street. Beginning in 1961, the privately held builidngs were purchased by the government and restored to their original appearances.
Through the Byward Market area, Sussex is a northbound one-way arterial road (paired with Mackenzie Avenue), before joining up at the Alexandra Bridge approach where it becomes a four-lane principal arterial road, with a speed limit of 50 km/h (30 mph) south of the bend and 60 km/h (35 mph) north and east of the bend. Just before becoming the Rockcliffe Parkway, Sussex narrows to a two-lane rural-standard parkway.