Quote:
Originally Posted by Tvisforme
There was a similar discussion on the Aaroads forum back in 2016; reworking that proposal, I'd suggest the following:
- move the Trans Canada designation to the Coquihalla route between Hope and Kamloops;
- rebrand the existing TCH as Highway 1A and market it as the TCH historical route, since those communities already took a hit from losing traffic to the Coquihalla;
- Highway 5 would follow the existing 5A from Kamloops to Princeton;
- Highway 8 would be extended to Peachland (replacing 97C);
- clean up the names of 97C (Merritt-Ashcroft) and 97D (Logan Lake-new TCH), perhaps as 1B/1C(?)
This gives the TCH the freeway route instead of the slower Fraser Canyon, which would make sense given the work being done to upgrade the TCH further east. Highway 5 loses the direct connection to the Lower Mainland but still retains its role as a connection between all three major east-west routes (1/16/3). If desired, one could even consider renaming the entire route along 8/97C/33 as one highway to emphasize the connection between the Cariboo and Kootenay regions. |
I contributed to that AARoads discussion back in the day, so I figured I'd repost it here with a few different ideas:
1. Targeted renumbering
Try to keep the renumbering to just moving the TCH to the Coquihalla; basically the same as mentioned about with a couple alternatives. I would argue that because BC 5 north of Kamloops is signed as the Yellowhead Hwy and part of an interprovincial corridor between the Lower Mainland and Edmonton, while BC 5A between Kamloops and Princeton is more of a local highway (provided other routes are operational), so it shouldn't revert back to #5 as they have different functions.
- TCH 1 follows the Coquihalla Hwy
- BC 1A follows the Fraser Canyon and is the TCH Historical Route
- BC 8 follows BC 97C between Merritt and Peachland
- Keep BC 5 north of Kamloops
- BC 5A between Kamloops & Merritt becomes BC 1B (runs parallel to TCH 1)
- BC 97C & BC 5A (Cache Creek-Merritt-Princeton) becomes a new number, BC 25 is available but it could be any unused number
- BC97D becomes BC 25A
2. Larger scale Interior Renumbering
IMO, BC 97 artificially connects the US with Alaska as most people who want to travel directly from the Lower 48 to Alaska would not go through the Okanagan. BC routes were renumbered to #97 to adhere to the US route grid (Okanagan used to be BC 5; Cariboo used to be BC 2) and extend it to Alaska, but those travel patterns were superseded by the Interstates. Further to that, Northern BC should have a continuous number to the Lower Mainland.
- Idea #1 with the following changes
- TCH 1 & BC 97 between Hope & Dawson Creek become BC 7
- BC 6 follows BC 97 (and TCH 1 concurrency) between Vernon & Cache Creek
- BC 5A (Kamloops-Merritt) would be BC 1A
- TCH Historical Route would follow the new BC 7 & BC 6 along the current TCH route.
- BC 97 would follow BC 97A & 97B from Vernon to Salmon Arm - BC 97B could probably be easier widened to 4 lanes to TCH 1 (which in theory will also be expanded) than BC 97A between Grindrod & Sicamous
- Create TCH 2 along the Alaska Hwy & Canamex Corridor, following AB 4/2/43 through Alberta and BC 2/97/YK-1 to Alaska
BC 7 could also have some minimal upgrades between Hope and Vancouver to allow for it to be a viable alternate east-west route.
3. Craziness
Not going to happen, but let's really dream big.
- Idea #2 with the following changes
- New bridge constructed at Boundary Road over the North Arm to BC 91, with Boundary Road either remaining a surface street or a tunnelled freeway. BC 99, BC 91, and Boundary Road between Peace Arch and TCH 1 become BC 5 (northern extension of I-5). Alternatively, BC 15 becomes BC 5 and TCH 1 is cosigned TCH 1/BC 5 between Surrey and Horseshoe Bay.
- BC 99 north of Whistler is expanded to 4 lanes. BC 99, BC 97 between Horseshoe Bay and Dawson Creek become BC 5. If the previous TCH 2 idea doesn't fly, BC 5 could continue along the Alaska Highway.
- BC 97 between the current BC 99 and Cache Creek becomes BC 5A.
- BC 12 becomes BC 8 (extension of the BC 8 corridor) - BC 8 could be extended east from the Okanagan to the Kootenays.
- YH 5 north of Kamloops could be renumbered to something else. Possibly BC 7 would follow the current TCH 1 between Hope and Kamloops, then continue north to Tête Jaune Cache.
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