What is the Trans-Canada Highway?

The Trans-Canada Highway is the federal-provincial highway system that connects all 10 Canadian provinces from St. John's, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia. The main route is about 7,821 kilometres long, and the system including spurs and alternate routes totals about 8,030 kilometres, making it one of the longest national highways in the world. The highway was authorised by the federal Trans-Canada Highway Act of 1949 and officially completed on July 30, 1962, with the Rogers Pass section in British Columbia.

The highway uses Route 1 markers across most of its length but is signed under provincial highway numbers (varying by province). In British Columbia and Alberta the route is BC Highway 1 and Alberta Highway 1; in Saskatchewan it is Saskatchewan Highway 1; in Manitoba it is Manitoba Provincial Trunk Highway 1; in Ontario it is split between several routes including Ontario Highway 17 (across northern Ontario) and a southern branch via Ontario Highway 7 and Ontario Highway 417; in Quebec it is Autoroute 40 and Autoroute 20; in New Brunswick it is Route 2; in Nova Scotia it is Route 104; in Newfoundland it is Route 1; in PEI it is the Confederation Bridge plus Route 1.

The Trans-Canada Highway crosses every Canadian physiographic region. From east to west: the Atlantic Maritime ecozone of Newfoundland and the Maritime provinces; the St. Lawrence Lowlands of Quebec and southern Ontario; the Canadian Shield of central Ontario, southern Manitoba, and northwestern Ontario; the Interior Plains across the prairies; the Cordillera (including Banff National Park, Yoho National Park, Glacier National Park, and Mount Revelstoke National Park, all linked by the highway); and the Pacific Maritime region in coastal British Columbia. The highway crosses the Continental Divide at Kicking Horse Pass (1,627 metres) between Banff and Yoho National Parks.

Significant Trans-Canada Highway features include the 12.9-kilometre Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (opened May 31, 1997, the world's longest bridge over ice-covered water); the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton Highlands (a scenic alternate); the Canso Causeway (opened 1955) from the Nova Scotia mainland to Cape Breton Island; the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge to Michigan; the Kicking Horse Pass crossing of the Rockies; and the Rogers Pass crossing of the Selkirks. Major Canadian cities along or near the route include St. John's, Halifax, Moncton, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, and Vancouver. The Yellowhead Highway (Route 16) provides a more northerly alternate from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, BC.