British Columbia Highway 1

The Vancouver Island section of Highway 1 was designated in the initial numbering scheme announced by the provincial government in March 1940, along with Highway 1A.[16] It originally connected Victoria to Kelsey Bay, a small coastal community north of Campbell River. The Vancouver Island section was truncated to downtown Nanaimo in 1953, with the section north of Nanaimo being re-numbered to Highway 19. When BC Ferries took over the ferry route between Departure Bay in Nanaimo and Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver in 1961, Highway 1 was extended to the Departure Bay ferry dock.

The Malahat Highway was completed in 1911 as a gravel road with a single lane and was later upgraded to two paved lanes.[17] A bridge across the Finlayson Arm to bypass the section was among 19 options studied in 2007, but were discarded in favor of other solutions that would cost less.[18][19] In 2019, the provincial government studied the construction of a permanent detour for the Goldstream–Malahat section of Highway 1 and identified several potential routes, but instead decided to move forward with safety improvements to the existing highway.[20] The section was severely damaged by several floods in November 2021, which closed the road for several days and required $15 million in repairs the following year.[21]

Sections of Highway 1 from Grandview Highway in Vancouver to 216 Street in Langley vary from being 3 to 4 lanes in each direction, 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.[22] The highway shortens to two lanes per direction after leaving Langley (Metro Vancouver), and enters Abbotsford (Fraser Valley).

The Upper Levels Highway opened between Horseshoe Bay and Taylor Way in West Vancouver on September 14, 1957, replacing a section of Marine Drive that had carried Highway 1.[23][24] Construction on a new, high-level Second Narrows Bridge began two months later and was planned to be incorporated into the Trans-Canada Highway upon completion.[25][26] On June 17, 1958, several spans of the unfinished bridge collapsed during work on the main arch; 18 workers died and one diver also died during a later search at the site.[27] The Second Narrows Bridge was dedicated to the accident's victims and opened to traffic on August 25, 1960; it cost $23 million to construct and was the second-longest bridge in Canada at the time of its completion.[28] The Upper Levels Highway was extended 9.3 kilometres (5.76 mi) east to the Second Narrows Bridge on March 4, 1961; the limited-access highway across North Vancouver cost $50 million to construct.[29][30]

Prior to the opening of the freeway (and prior to the 1980s and 1990s, expressway) segments of the present Trans-Canada, traffic used the Pattullo Bridge, Kingsway, and Fraser Highway as the Trans-Canada Highway. These roads were a part of the Highway 1 from its designation in 1940[31][32] until the redesignation of the B.C.'s 400 series highways in 1972/73.[33][34]

By 1932 a new cutoff across northern parts of the drained Sumas Lake was mostly built.[35][36] The cutoff bypassed the Yale Road which avoided the historical lake by running on its southern flank and along the base of Vedder Mountain. The highway was initially partly gravel,[37] but it was fully paved within a few years of its opening.[38]

From 1960 to 1964, the province opened several expressway and freeway segments as a part of a continuous express route between Bridal Falls and Taylor Way in West Vancouver.

On August 1, 1960, the Chilliwack Bypass was officially opened by Highways Minister Phil Gaglardi, MLA for Chillwack William Kenneth Kiernan and a six-year-old girl who cut the blue ribbon.[39] About 6.4 km (4 mi) of the road had been opened before Gaglardi officially opened the bypass.[40] Work on the bypass started on December 12, 1956, with two men clearing bushes.[41]

Around the time of opening of the Chilliwack Bypass, a bypass of Abbotsford was also being constructed.[42] That section of freeway was officially opened by Phil Gaglardi on April 19, 1962.[43][44]

On May 1, 1964, the section of Freeway between what is now north of the 1st Avenue interchange to the Cape Horn Interchange opened.[45][46] This was followed on June 12 by the opening of the Port Mann bridge, and the official opening of the freeway-expressway system from Bridal Falls to Taylor Way. A 90-year-old man and 11-year-old girl assisted Premier W.A.C. Bennett and Phil Gaglardi in opening the bridge.[47][48] At the time of the bridge's opening, various speed limits were in effect. The section from Bridal Falls to the Port Mann Bridge had a 70 mph (110 km/h) limit. Through Burnaby 65 mph (105 km/h) was the limit. Speeds dropped on approach to Cassiar Street with a 50 mph (80 km/h) limit west of Boundary Road, with a drop to 30 mph (48 km/h) for Cassiar Street.[48]

Over the years, various interchanges have been built and rebuilt.

On July 31, 1969, the interchange with Lickman Road in Chilliwack opened.[49] The Prest Road overpass followed in the early 1970s.[50]

In January 1992 the Cassiar Tunnel opened. The project replaced a surface street section of Cassiar Street which was used by traffic to get from the Burnaby Freeway to the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.[51]

Through the 2000s and 2010s multiple interchanges were upgraded and rebuilt along the highway. The Gateway program saw the rebuilding of several interchanges from Willingdon Avenue to 176 Street. Through Abbotsford the Mount Lehman/Fraser Highway, Clearbrook Road, and McCallum Road interchanges were rebuilt.[52][53][54]

On June 9, 2011, Highway 1 between 152 Street in Surrey and Highway 11 in Abbotsford was designated as the Highway of Heroes.[55]

On September 4, 2020, a new interchange with 216 Street was opened.[56]

On November 10, 2022, it was announced that major construction of a new overpass at Glover Road (which will be built first), a revised interchange with Highway 10/232 St. and widening to three lanes between 216 Street and Highway 13/264 St. had started.[57] This work is part of a plan to eventually widen the highway to Whatcom Road in Abbotsford.[58]

Since the 2000s, 25 kilometres of road in the Kicking Horse Pass near Golden have been rebuilt in phases to modern standards, with 4 lanes and the removal of sharp corners.[60][61][62] The final phase is due for completion in 2024.[61]

During major floods in November 2021, sections of Highway 1 between Hope and Spences Bridge were washed away into the Thompson River. Other sections of the highway on Vancouver Island and a railroad underpass near Lytton were also damaged in the same event. As a result of the floods, which also damaged other highways in the Fraser Valley, road connections from Metro Vancouver to the rest of Canada were cut off.[63]

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.[64] 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 and are expected to the constructed by 2023, including:[59]

• 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.