Anyone drive the TCH from Calgary to Salmon Arm lately ? Any big delays ?

Headed to Vernon in a few weeks via the #1, Haven't driven the TCH for a few years, excited to make that drive again instead of the usual mind numbingly boring and ugly Yellowhead route

Still major traffic backups westbound east of Golden last time I went through there (Sept '16) mostly from semi trucks lumbering up the steep unimproved sections...

I posted this in the canada board highways thread, and wonder what you guys think

^Yeah - good question.
I wonder if they would just re-route it altogether ?

How about decking it? I can appreciate that would be a pig to build and keep the existing road going, though.

To where?

Just noticed the Golden Donald Upper Road exit on TCH in Golden had been signed as "exit 780"... but its only about 320km from the last exit 411 at Pritchard... Are they intend to make the Trans-Canada 50km longer? :???:

Allowance for future bypasses perhaps?
I also find it odd that exits east of Kamloops are numbered differently in either direction; I've seen plans for the Juniper-Valleyview realignment in that vicinity.

For anyone travelling up hwy 5 north of Kamloops there are a couple of areas along the North Thompson where the shoulder has washed away, so expect delays around Cleareater and Blue River

And not really BC related but they're doing a massive amount of road work this summer through Jasper, it's going to be a very painful season. We're thinking we'll just avoid it altogether this year

Don't you spend time in the BC Interior? If so, how do you propose getting there? Calgary>Banff>Kamloops wouldn't be much better. Lot's of construction here too plus heavier traffic would make for a shitty drive as well.

^ the TCH route adds just over an hour to the place just north of Kamloops, which we go to a lot but it's actually a litte faster to take the TCH if we're headed to the Okanagan. With NW Stoney complete in Calgary getting through there is a breeze.

The amount of work they're doing on the road and bridges in Jasper is going to make it a traffic nightmare all summer, coupled with the fact that it's free in the parks this year so there'll be double the idiots parking on the middle of the highway and letting their kids run around in traffic to look at the Bighorns, Plus the drive from Edmonton to the east park gate is absolutely, hideously awful. Really that drive sucks right up until Tete Jaune Cache, but at least the roads are in better shape once you cross over into BC. The southern route is much nicer

The drive from Jasper to Kamloops isn't great either - with so little of it being divided 4 lane, one often finds one's self stuck in a long line behind an RV or whatever. While there is much less traffic to deal with as compared to the TCH, the very real inability to pass anyone makes it a drive that can be difficult to endure.

^ I find that the stretch of Hwy 5 has ample passing lanes though, it's pretty rare for me to get caught behind a slower moving vehicle for more than 5-10 minutes

The worst part are the jerks who are afraid to pass but ride each others' bumpers and don't leave room for those of us who aren't pussies to merge back in, so sometimes you' ve got no choice but to pass a number of vehicles in one shot

Yikes what a mess.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...vebc-1.4153269

Anyone drive the TCH from Calgary to Kamloops recently ? Google maps shows a lot of construction along the route. Heading that way in a week.. any big delays to be aware of ?

Did the drive last week. Tons of construction...lots of stopping for traffic control. Multiple projects for widening and paving, plus repairs and such. Lost over an hour each way, and the way back was on Sunday when no construction sites are actually working. RVs going 30 km/h under the speed limit on a straight stretch suck.

You could tell everyone was getting quite impatient...I'm a "set cruise control to 10 km/h over the speed limit" guy and was getting passed way more than usual.

^ thanks.. figured it would be slow due to construction.. will try to hit it off hours, but looking for a change of scenery as we've driven the Yellowhead route a million times and it's getting so dreary and boring

I never get tired of the scenery on Highway 1, and I've been on that road 2-5 times a year for almost my entire life!

Talked with folks in Jasper that were doing the loop from Calgary to Van and the Back through Jasper. Said the Yellow head was great, some paving but it is easier to drive.

Did the TCH in the spring. As much as I like the change in scenery the ease of driving the Yellowhead makes that the better option for me. You are also right to drive off hours. The drive to Jasper yesterday Morning was easy, even with the construction. made it to Jasper in 3.5 hours.

TCH Calgary to Kamloops on the weekend. The progress they've made at Kicking Horse is impressive. Still so much work to do though, forgot how sparse passing lanes are between Field and Revelstoke. Nice to see progress in the Shuswaps as well but they need to ramp up twinning east of Chase. Lots of re-paving, scaling and passing lanes being built, luckily we drove it on Sunday so all the construction sites were shut down. Major re-surfacing west of Revelstoke, and most of hwy 24 is being resurfaced as well

^Yeah I drove the TCH to the Okanagan on the long weekend as well.
You see the new construction and it's encouraging but then you continue on and get discouraged by the amount of 4-laning left to do. It's embarrassing that it's 2017 and this is the state of the national highway in BC. :(

If anyone is headed out on the road to the Cariboo region make sure to check DriveBC, TCH is closed from south of Cache Creek all the way to Savona due to multiple fires and 97C is closed just north of Cache Creek, just north of 100 Mile House, at Lac La Hache and at 150 Mile House due to fires.

Yes, we were hoping to do a loop from Vancouver up 99 and down 1, but that will have to wait. Quite terrifying for the people caught up in the affected areas.

If you could compile a top 5 list of must build projects what would it be? Hoping everyone is safe today...

in no particular order:
1. twin TCH east of Golden to the Alberta border
2. twin TCH between Golden and Revelstoke
3. twin TCH west of Revelstoke all the way to Kamloops
4. grade separated ring road/bypass from Vancouver ports to the TCH. Something along the line of Highway 10 but without lights
5. twin Highway 5 from #16 to Kamloops.


I'm counting the three twinning portions of the TCH as separate projects

I was supposed to head up to Williams Lake to do a site inspection today but that got canceled.

We cut our holiday short and came back from the 100 Mile House area yesterday. We were not under evacuation but with two of the three routes out of the area blocked, and with the potential for a blockade in the Little Fort area we thought best to get out in case we got trapped up there. There were reports of gas shortages as well. Hwy 24 was very busy with people leaving and now you can't go west on 24 from hwy 5, so we couldn't even get to our cabin if we wanted to at the moment. 5 was very congested all the way to Tete Jaune. The smoke where we were at up at Bridge Lake got very bad and it was bad down in Little Fort as well.

I hope everyone gets out okay and no lives are lost, I know some people have lost everything already. I spoke with a flagger while gassing up at Interlakes who lost her home on the reserve in Ashcroft. Our place is not in any direct risk at the moment but we just thought it was better to get out while we could

Just over an hour ago, Williams Lake was put under evacuation alert. Interior Cariboo Hwys must be a mess.

We used to rent a cabin at Lac Des Roches for summer holidays for quite a few years and know the Caribou country a bit, have relatives who moved up there in recent years as well.

I am curious if you ever come back to Calgary via the little two lane highway from Louis Creek to Adams Lake and then down to Squilax. Not paved from Adams Lake to the mill north of Squilax but still a very good road - a nice secondary route that even shaves a bit of time off of the trip back to Calgary. We did it numerous times towing our enclosed cargo trailer with a fishing boat on top and everything always made it through in great condition.

^ we use that road to get over to Shuswap Lake quite a lot as we've got friends with a place in Anglemont. That's a really nice drive, does it actually save any time vs. taking the highway though ?

We found it saved a bit of time but more so the scenery and the lack of traffic made it a worth while alternative - being able to drive at one's own pace instead of stuck in a long line of traffic is much less stressful.

On a side note, have you been to the ice caves by Bridge Lake or to the abandoned gold mine east of Little Fort?

I like it!
In that order too.
Now we just need the $$

And a government willing to do it!

You think things were slow under the Liberals? I would not hold my breath for any major new highway projects now that the NDP / Greens are in power (if anything it is more likely to see some already planned projects cancelled or reduced in scale).

Key players within this new government are from Vision Vancouver, and we all know how strict their dogma is regarding highways.

Looks like the #99 improvements / GMB project is already dead.

I wish an alternative to the Liberals in BC did not equate neglect for our highway system...

Make all of hwy 1 and 17 as well as hwy 97 from penticton to prince George 4 lane grade separate highways and then BC would be pretty good with regards to road improvements.

Twining the lengths of hwy 5, 19 and maybe 3 would maybe be next in line

Oh no!
That doesn't sound promising at all. :shrug::hell:

I haven't been to the mines but have been over to the ice caves, pretty cool stuff. They upgraded the parking lot and paths last year to make it a litte more accessible

The mine workings are well worth a visit, core samples laying all about, shafts that are still open, some old buildings and other stuff.

On another note, it took my wife 9.5 hours to go from Calgary to Kelowna yesterday - pretty much all of the delays were due to construction except for a 30 minute delay west of Revelstoke where someone decided to abandon their car askew across both the WB driving and emergency lanes in a no passing zone.

Very interesting, will definitely check that out the next time we head out there. Was hoping to go August long but it doesn't look like that's going to happen due to the fire situation

We enjoyed taking the #1 as a changecof scenery but not in a huge rush to do it again, at least during the summer driving season. Can't remember exactly how long it took to go from Calgary to Kamloops but with the heavy traffic and delays it was a long trip.

Nice list, but the scope of your projects are way too big. You need to break them up into smaller chunks for them to be realistic.

For example, a revised list could have these:
1. Twin the Trans Canada between Quartz Creek and Golden
2. Twin the Trans Canada between Sicamous and Three Valley Gap
3. Twin the Trans Canada between Mt Revelstoke National Park and Glacier National Park
3. Grade separate Highway 17 from Highway 99 to the Trans Canada (5 interchanges)
4. Twin Highway 5 from Kamloops to McLure

Basically, find areas that are easier to do (ie. not under Parks Canada jurisdiction), then do them in ~$100M chunks. Any bigger and there's just no chance it happens, or it gets done so piecemeal that it's not very meaningful. I think the current trend of a couple kilometers here and there sucks, and the grand goal of doing 100 kilometers in one go is also impossible.

I went to visit a buddy in Penticton recently. I chose the highway 5 okanagan connector combo. Then 97 south through Peachland and Summerland. Haven't driven that road in like 8-9 years so I was curious what it looked like. I was shocked. It's still the same original road. As soon as you get off 97C and merge with 97 south it's only 1 lane and 2 lanes north through that stretch with no divider. Once you get to Peachland it's only 2 lanes. And it pretty much stays that way once you get halfway to Summerland and then there's new stretches of 4 lane 100km/hr divided highway . Similar in design to the Sea to Sky between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish. It's still the original 4 lanes through Summerland but at least it's continuous 4 lanes divided all the way to Penticton.

I know it's BC and we have low exceptations regarding roads here but come on. The only major north south route through the Okanagan and it's still the original 2 lane road? Most of the intersections don't even have right hand turn lanes. I couldn't imagine driving that stretch on a busy summer weekend. What a frustrating slog that can be. I know it's all about money and they can easily expand it. Parts of 97 should be upgraded to full freeway but yet it's still 2 lanes.

Several options have been presented about Peachland. Some include 4 lanning the 2 lane stretch along the waterfront, but the far superior idea is a new 4 lane divided bypass that goes around Peachland to the west of it.

If you people hope to see continued investments and improvements in our highway system I suggest you send the new minister an e-mail:


Claire Trevena's website and wiki page

As always, keep it constructed and civil.

I can't see building a brand new bypass would be cheaper than upgrading a relatively short original 2 lane stretch into the 4 lane designs that we see on other parts of the 97. And making drivers take an extra detour for a bypass that will probably not be full freeway seems pointless when it'll probably add time then the straight route that is there now.

I think you are right about the $100 million chunks having been the way to progress. I do think however that the transcanada is getting close to the point that completion of twinning in BC could be conceived as a single major infrastructure project by a federal government. After all, a lot of the remaining twinning is in the parks, and a Federal responsibility anyway. I can see that the current approach will get twinning done to Revelstoke, the problem for the provincial government is that there just are not many voters east of Revelstoke to justify the spend without significant Federal cash.

Just rode across Canada, the construction through Yoho and Glacier is pretty brutal right now. Plus because of all that backed up truck traffic, I wasn't able to take the good corners east of Golden with any sort of speed.

Just did a quick trip up to PG and then decided to head over to Vanderhoof since I had never been west of the city. Lots of construction just on western edge of city. A new 3 1/2 km section is being widened to 4 lanes with improved intersections. Also closer to Vanderhoof at Mapes Road, this intersection is being improved as well as 25+km of fresh new pavement. I was quite surprised by the volume of traffic on this section of highway

Drove the number one though Yoho National Park, lots of twinning already happening there (finally!).

Here are a couple pics of the work:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/...11b553bf_b.jpgRocky Mountain Driving by Ian, on Flickr

An animal overpass being constructed

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4436/...bb038efd_b.jpgHighway One Widening by Ian, on Flickr

Pics are my own, cheers!

Thanks for the update Metro - complete with photos no less. :tup:
Is this the section continued from the Alberta border ?

Yeah, it is continuing from the border, about 6 to 8 km in it looked. There is another major stretch on construction happening in Glacier National Park, which really surprised me because I heard nothing about that.

^^^

Nice! I drove through a month ago but didn't have time to take any pics. I was unaware of the construction in Glacier National as well, so it's nice to know that they are adding a passing lane.

I just drove through yesterday, they've made a bit of progress since I rode through a month and a half ago.

Anyone know what's happening up by Rogers Pass too in the summit area? Looks like widening work there as well but not too sure.