British Columbia Highway 1

The Island section of Highway 1, which is 116 kilometres (72 mi) in total length, begins at the intersection of Douglas Street and Dallas Road in Victoria, where a large "mile zero" sign is erected. Highway 1 proceeds north through the city of Victoria as an urban arterial street for 4 kilometres (2.5 mi), passing by the southern terminus of Highway 17, before leaving the city at Tolmie Avenue. Once out of Victoria there are two at grade intersections at Boleskine Rd and Tillicum Rd.

Highway 1 then continues on a 12 km (7.5 mi) long four to six lane freeway, with seven interchanges along its length, one of which leads to the start of Highway 14. The freeway segment ends at the signalized intersection with Westshore Parkway. After the Westshore Parkway intersection, the highway narrows to two lanes as it enters Goldstream Provincial Park. The highway from this point is known locally as Malahat Drive.

From the southern entrance to Goldstream Provincial Park, the Malahat section of Highway 1, which is known for its steep grades, goes north for 20 km (12 mi). It follows the Goldstream River through the park to the west shore of Finlayson Arm, becomes three lanes on its exit from the park, and passes through the community of Malahat proper, as well as the Malahat Summit, the highest point on the Island section of Highway 1 at 352 m (1,155 ft), en route. The Malahat portion of the highway is a mix of 2, 3 and 4 lane cross-sections. The section between Tunnel Hill and Shawnigan Lake Road is four lanes. 65 per cent of the Malahat highway is divided with concrete median. The Malahat section ends when it reaches the community of Mill Bay.

In Mill Bay, Highway 1 once again widens out into four lanes (with an interchange at Mill Bay Road at Bamberton), then passes through signalized intersections at Butterfield Road, Frayne Road and Deloume Road. Highway 1 then travels north through a gauntlet of 15 traffic lights for 29 km (18 mi). These provide access to Shawnigan Lake (stoplights at Shawnigan Lake-Mill Bay Road), Cobble Hill (Cobble Hill Road, Hutchinson Road and Fisher Road), Cowichan Bay (Cowichan Bay Road, Koksilah Road, and Bench Road) and Duncan (closely spaced signals at Allenby Road, Boys Road, Trunk Road, Coronation Avenue, James Street, Beverly Street, Green Road, and Drinkwater Road). Next is a signalized junction with Highway 18. The highway then proceeds north for 10 km (6.2 mi) through stoplights at Mays Road and Mount Sicker Road to a signalized intersection at Henry Road serving Chemainus.

From the Chemainus junction, Highway 1 travels 11 km (6.8 mi) northwest to the city of Ladysmith accessed by intersections with traffic lights at Davis Road, Roberts Street, and Ludlow Road. It then continues northwest for another 13 km (8.1 mi) through signalized junctions at Oyster Sto-Lo Road, Cedar Road, Timberlands Road, and Spitfire Way, the last of which provides access to Nanaimo Airport. The highway then reaches an unsignalized junction at Cassidy. Immediately after crossing a bridge over the Nanaimo River, there is an interchange with Nanaimo River Road. There is then a signalized intersection at Morden Road. Highway 1 enters the City of Nanaimo about 6 km (3.7 mi) north of Cassidy, where Highway 19 merges at an interchange onto the highway from the B.C. Ferry terminal at Duke Point. The two highways follow a short freeway that reaches 7 lanes at its widest point. It runs another 2 km (1.2 mi) north to a point where Highways 1 and 19 split off at a junction with Cedar Road. Highway 19 proceeds northwest to bypass Nanaimo, while Highway 1 continues north through the city of Nanaimo for 7 km (4.3 mi) to the B.C. Ferry terminal at Departure Bay, where the Island section of Highway 1 terminates.

Highway 1 then enters Departure Bay via ferry, turning east-northeast to enter the Strait of Georgia just north of Newcastle Island. The downtown core of Vancouver comes into view as the route approaches the entrance to Howe Sound. The highway then turns north-northeast just west of Passage Island to enter Queen Charlotte Channel, then rounds the Whytecliff Peninsula to enter the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, 57 km (31 nmi) from the Departure Bay dock.

Highway 1's total length in the Lower Mainland is 170 km (110 mi). On the Mainland, the highway begins at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in West Vancouver. From here to the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, the highway is known locally as the Upper Levels Highway. There are nine interchanges on the 14 km (8.7 mi) stretch of the Highway within West Vancouver. The first interchange east of Horseshoe Bay brings Highway 99 onto a common alignment with Highway 1. After Taylor Way, where Highway 99 takes the exit off Highway 1, the highway crosses over the Capilano River into the District of North Vancouver. Highway 1 travels for 9 km (5.6 mi) through the District and the City of North Vancouver, passing through seven interchanges, until crossing the 1,292 m (4,239 ft) long Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing over the Burrard Inlet into Vancouver. (The bridge, previously known as the Second Narrows Bridge, was renamed to commemorate the 27 workers who lost their lives during its construction.) This section of freeway is old and substandard lacking shoulders and proper merging lanes from on ramps.

British Columbia Highway 1 near Brentwood, Burnaby.

The new Port Mann Bridge, crossing the Fraser River

The 4-kilometre-long (2.5 mi) long stretch of Highway 1 through the eastern part of Vancouver is the only freeway within Vancouver's city limits. Highway 1 from Vancouver to Surrey is the busiest segment of the entire freeway in the Lower Mainland. In Vancouver, Highway 1 travels through the Cassiar Tunnel and passes through three interchanges leading to Downtown before crossing into Burnaby at the interchange with Boundary Road. The Burnaby stretch of Highway 1 is 11 km (6.8 mi) long, and goes through four interchanges around the city centre before proceeding into Coquitlam. The Coquitlam stretch is the widest segment in Western Canada of Highway 1. It lasts 7 km (4.3 mi), with two interchanges along its length, the westernmost of them also connecting to New Westminster. The easternmost interchange on Highway 1 in Coquitlam, known as the Cape Horn Interchange, leads to Highway 7 and Highway 7B. Leaving Coquitlam, Highway 1 crosses the Fraser River over the Port Mann Bridge into Surrey.

Sections of Highway 1 from Grandview Highway in Vancouver to 208 Street in Langley vary from being 3 to 4 lanes in each direction and shortens to two lanes after leaving Langley (Metro Vancouver) and enters Abbotsford (Fraser Valley). With one of these lanes being a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane. These HOV lanes were constructed in 1998 as part of the BC MOT's "Go Green" project to promote the use of HOV vehicles, and cost $62 million.[2]

In Surrey, Highway 1 has five interchanges - 152 St (accessed by getting in rightmost lanes before the Port Mann Bridge eastbound), 156 St (HOV only), 160 St/104 Ave, one that connects to Highway 15 and Highway 17, and 192 St (eastbound exit/westbound entrance only). 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the Highway's entry into Surrey, the Highway crosses into the Township of Langley. There are five interchanges on Highway 1 in its 18-kilometre-long (11 mi) stretch through Langley. One leads to 200 St, Langley's major thoroughfare, an HOV-only interchange leads to 202 St, the next one is a recently completed connection to 216 St. After passing 216th the highways leaves the urbanized area and passes through the more rural parts of Langly, at that point the highway narrows from 3 to 2 lanes in each direction. Proceeding in a straight line Hwy 1 passes for long stretches between two more interchanges, a full cloverleaf interchange at Highway 10, and another full cloverleaf at Highway 13. The Hwy 10 and 13 interchanges are the only full cloverleaf interchanges still in use in all of B.C. The section of freeway between Abbotsford and the Langley urban area is prone to chronic traffic congestion due to the reduced number of lanes (4 total instead of 6), the large amount of semi trucks that travel this section and the lack of a nearby alternative route. On summer weekends or during rushhour the traffic on this stretch is often reduced to stop and go due to sheer traffic volume. Even at non peak hours this stretch can experience dense traffic forcing drivers to travel under 50 km/h.

Highway 1 then crosses from Metro Vancouver into the Fraser Valley Regional District upon entry into Abbotsford. There are six interchanges on Highway 1 in its 33-kilometre-long (21 mi) stretch through Abbotsford, one of which leads to Highway 11. Once Highway 1 leaves Abbotsford, it crosses over the Vedder Canal into Chilliwack. The highway goes through Chilliwack for 24 km (15 mi), passing through six interchanges within the city (Yale Road West, Lickman Road, Evans Road, Vedder Road, Prest Road, and Annis Road). An exit to Young Road is also available westbound on the highway.

Fraser Canyon along British Columbia Highway #1 between Hope and Yale

2 km (1.2 mi) after leaving Chilliwack, Highway 1 reaches an interchange with Highway 9. East of the Highway 9 interchange, Highway 1 hugs the south bank of the Fraser River for 35 km (22 mi), passing through seven interchanges until reaching the interchange with Highway 3 at Hope, British Columbia. Highway 1 takes the exit off the freeway at this point. (The freeway alignments of Highways 3 and 5 continue from this exit, from Exit 170 Highway 5 continues as a freeway until it meets up again with Highway 1 just west of Kamloops at Exit 362.) The vast majority of traffic travelling between Hope and Kamloops follows Highway 5 as it takes over an hour and a half less time to travel when compared to following Highway 1, and that Highway 5 is a controlled-access freeway. As Highway 1 leaves the freeway it drops from a total of 4 lanes to 2.

The Interior section of Highway 1 is 704 km (437 mi) long accounting for over 70 percent of the length of B.C Highway 1. For most of the route it roughly follows the path of the Canadian Pacific Railway. After leaving the freeway, Highway 1 crosses through the town centre of Hope for 2 km (1.2 mi) before heading north across the Fraser River. At this point, Highway 1 becomes two lanes. 1 km (0.62 mi) north of the Fraser crossing, Highway 1 reaches its east junction with Highway 7. Continuing from the Highway 7 junction, Highway 1 enter the Fraser Canyon and travels for 106 km (66 mi) north on a route that includes seven mountain tunnels, past the communities of Yale, Spuzzum and Boston Bar, before reaching its junction with Highway 12 at Lytton. Leaving the Fraser River, and following the Thompson River another 37 km (23 mi) northeast, Highway 1 reaches a junction with another numbered route, Highway 8. 38 km (24 mi) north of the Highway 8 junction, Highway 1 passes through a junction with Highway 97C. Continuing 5 km (3.1 mi) north, the highway reaches the community of Cache Creek, where Highway 97 merges onto the Trans-Canada from the north.

East of Cache Creek, Highways 1 and 97 proceed on their common alignment for 72 km (45 mi), passing through Savona en route to Kamloops. Highway 5 merges onto the Trans-Canada from the south at this point, returning the freeway to Highway 1.

The 1/97/5 concurrency proceeds east for 12 km (7.5 mi) as a freeway through the western part of Kamloops to where Highway 5 diverges north which marks the end of the freeway. Highways 1 and 97 then pass through six sets of signal lights in 7 km (4.3 mi) before exiting Kamloops to the east. That 7 km stretch is often one of the most congested areas on the interior section of Hwy 1 due to the signal lights and Kamloops rush hour traffic, there are currently no plans to address this gap in the freeway. The Freeway resumes to the east of Kamloops and continues for another 19 km (12 mi) to Monte Creek, where Highway 97 diverges south from Highway 1 and the freeway ends, however despite having at grade intersections, there are no signal lights until Salmon Arm. The divided highway continues for another 19 km (12 mi) where it ends and becomes a two-lane undivided route. For the next 58 km (36 mi) east, Highway 1 takes a winding two-lane route through the communities of Pritchard, Chase and Sorrento with the occasional passing lane. In several locations it travels right next to the shore of Shuswap Lake, Little Shushwap Lake and the South Thompson River. The highway widens to a modern four lane alignment just east of Sorrento for 11 km (6.8 mi) before it reverts back to a narrow 2 lane cross section for the final stretch to the city of Salmon Arm on Shuswap Lake. Eight sets of lights and a 50 km/h speed limit slowly moves traffic through the city center. Highway 97B meets Highway 1 three kilometres east of Salmon Arm's city centre.

The peak of Rogers Pass

After Salmon Arm, Highway 1 continues east, still as a narrow two-lane winding highway for 31 km (19 mi) to a signalized junction with Highway 97A at Sicamous, taking a route above the south shore of the Salmon Arm of Shuswap Lake for most of this stretch.

For the next 71 km (44 mi) between Sicamous and Revelstoke the highway travels over the first major pass, Eagle Pass, which is a relatively low and gradual climb compared to what is farther west. The highway first continues relatively straight through and agricultural area in the Eagle River Valley past the communities of Malakwa and Craigellachie crossing the Eagle River several times. It widens to modern four lanes cross section twice in this section, first for a 3km stretched followed shortly afterwards by an 11 km stretch. After returning to two lanes the Highway climbs out of the flats into a narrow and curvy valley through the Monashee Mountains. The arrow valley passes many lakes the largest being at Three Valley Gap. The steep valley walls mean that this section is often subject to avalanche closures in the winter. It then crosses Eagle Pass and relatively quickly seconds down into the Columbia Valley. It then reaches a signalized junction with Highway 23 at Revelstoke, on the Columbia River.

The next 148 km (92 mi) of Highway 1 to Golden winds east through wild Mount Revelstoke National Park and Glacier National Park, where Rogers Pass is located. The highway climbs rather gradually at first passing through both parks and an area known as Albert Canyon. However right before Rogers Pass the road goes around a sharp corner and approaches an extremely steep grade. Prior to this corner being twinned it was an extremely dangerous spot as vehicles going down hill often lost control slid into oncoming traffic. Trucks often navigate this area going as slow as 10km/h in order to manage the climb or safely descend in control. The area on top of the pass is very scenic and grizzly bears are commonly spotted. After passing thorough the several snow sheds the highway descends down a long but more gentle hill into the Beaver River Valley. The highway then travels relatively straight until it leaves Glacier National Park. There it climbs steadily over a long distance to Kimbasket Summit. Although it continues at a high altitude for a long distance it soon abruptly drops into the Columbia River Valley. When approaching from the east this is the longest steep climb on the whole Trans Canada highway being 4 kilometres long bringing semi trucks are forced to crawl. It then crosses the Colombia River and passes through he ghost town of Donald .Motorists are advised to check their fuel level as they are leaving either Revelstoke or Golden as there are no refuelling facilities between the two towns. With the exception of two small 2 km long 4 lane divided fragments, this section of the Hwy 1 is almost exclusively an undivided 2-lane road with climbing lanes in steep areas. Accidents are common on this section especially in the winter, dangerous yellow line passing, excessive speeding, animals crossing the road and icy conditions contribute to the high collision rate. Since this section passes through a remote area there is little cell reception between Revelstoke and Golden. Avalanches in areas where there are no snowsheds lead to frequent road closures while crews clear or blast avalanches after a storm, closures can last anywhere between a few hours to a few days.

Highway 1 crossing the Park Bridge in the Kicking Horse Canyon

Highway 1 passes over the Columbia River again at Donald, and then reaches its junction with Highway 95 at Golden. The 23 km (14 mi) Kicking Horse Canyon stretch of Hwy 1 between Golden and the boundary of Yoho National Park was one of the most treacherous stretches of highway in North America. Recent improvements starting in the early 2000s upgraded the majority of this section to a modern 4 lane highway by a blasting a cleft in a mountain and building several large bridge spans, the largest being the Park Bridge. This was a major safety improvement, as well as cutting travel times through the canyon by about half. As of 2020, all but 4 km of the 23 km canyon section has been upgraded. However, the final 4 km still remains one of the most dangerous highways in BC, being a narrow 2 lane winding route hugging a cliff edge with extremely steep grades and average travel speeds of about 40 km/h. Rockfalls, avalanches and accidents frequently close this 4 km section. Upgrading this final section to a modern 4 lane standard is expected to be complete by 2024.[3] The Kicking Horse Canyon is considered by many to be most scenic section of the entire highway. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats frequent this section. To address this issue, wildlife fences and overpasses are included in all the new 4 lane sections. After exiting the canyon Highway 1 enters Yoho Park where it returns to a 2 lane cross section with the occasional passing lane and climbs along the Kicking Horse rRver arriving at the community of Field. Highway 1 then climbs up the Big Hill towards the Continental Divide at Kicking Horse Pass. At the top of the hill it widens to 4 lanes and skirts the edge of Wapta Lake. It soon crosses over into Alberta at the pass itself where a rest area is located. The 4 lane highway continues towards Banff and Calgary as Alberta Highway 1

The Interior section of Highway 1 is considered sub-standard when compared to other highways with similar traffic volume in the U.S. or other parts of Canada. The majority of the route is a dangerous, undivided two-lane highway with sharp corners, prone to frequent closures and accidents. To address this, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has undertaken an effort to twin the highway to four-lane 100 km/h standards between Kamloops and Alberta, with a targeted completion date of 2050. Several stretches of four-lane divided highway, including the Monte Creek to Pritchard section; the four-lane portions of the Kicking Horse Canyon, the 13 km-long passing lanes near Blind Bay, and many smaller four-lane divided fragments typically 2–4 km in length, are the results of this effort. As of 2020, about 25 percent of the highway between Alberta and Kamloops has been upgraded to a divided four-lane cross-section. Several new projects have been funded in the latest budget cycle, including the following:

• A new 4.9 km-long four-lane divided section around Chase, involving the construction of an interchange at the town;
• A new interchange and twinned highway at the West entrance of Salmon Arm;
• A new four-lane bridge across the Shuswap River in Sicamous;
• A new rest area and a 2 km-long four-lane section in the Illecillewaet Valley;
• A 4.4 km-long twinning near Quartz Creek east of Golden;
• And upgrading the remaining 4 km-long stretch of two-lane highway in the Kicking Horse Canyon.

All of this is expected to be constructed over the next 3 years.[4]