Talk:Trans-Canada Highway

Adding Mile By Mile External Links

I'm in the process of adding external links to he highway guides I've created for many North American Highway. Someone suggested that I should let the highway community know I'm doing that so they don't think I'm link spamming. I've got detailed photos and text of lots of stuff along the highways in Canada, Mexico and USA. I'd welcome your thoughts on my project and the links. If folks want to use photos (I've got thousands of lovely photos) from my highway guides for Wikipedia , feel free to use them but do give credit. Thanks, James Love James Love 13:45, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

everything ya said sounds great, go ahead and do it. ( : 131.202.129.34 15:05, 16 March 2006

Green 0m marker

I live in Victoria and I am quite sure the picture of the green 0m marker is not marking the start of the Trans-Canada Highway but rather a trail system that runs along the beach (m = metres, not miles). Look in the background of the picture and you can even see the paved trail. The Mile '0' sign is the only official marking point that I know of.

error correction

"The longest continuous stretch of highway in the Trans-Canada Highway system is recognized as the longest national highway in the world, at 7,821 km, taking into account the distance travelled on ferries"

This is obviously wrong. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_1_%28Australia%29

Where does it say this? Did you correct it?Njaohnt (talk) 00:32, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

Original route

From an undated - probably 1980s - official map of Canada:

• 1, Victoria to Ontario
• 17, Manitoba to Sudbury
• 69, Sudbury to Coldwater
• 12, Coldwater to Sunderland
• 7, Sunderland to Ottawa
• 17 (not 417!), Ottawa to Quebec
• 40, Ontario to Montreal
• unknown through Montreal
• 20, Montreal to Riviere-du-Loup
• 185, Riviere-du-Loup to New Brunswick
• 2, Quebec to Nova Scotia
• 104, New Brunswick to Mulgrave
• 105, Mulgrave to North Sydney
• 1, Channel-Port aux Basques to St. Johns

And a spur:

• 16, Sackville to Cape Tormentine
• 1, Borden to at Wood Islands
• 106, Caribou to New Glasgow

There are no shields of any sort on the Charlottetown-New Glasgow piece, but an inset map of the main highways bolds only the TCH, and bolds this. --SPUI (T - C) 00:13, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

A 1996 Gousha atlas gives the following names in Ontario (but not Quebec):

• Lake Superior Route: Manitoba or Kenora to Sudbury or North Bay
• Voyager Route: Kenora to west of Thunder Bay via 71 and 11
• Northern Route: east of Thunder Bay to Quebec or North Bay
• Ottawa Valley Route: North Bay, Sudbury or 66 to Quebec
• Georgian Bay Route: Sudbury to somewhere near Toronto
• Central Ontario Route: near Toronto to west of Ottawa
• Chapleau Route (not TCH): Wawa to Thessalon via 101 and 129

--SPUI (T - C) 00:39, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

This 1955 map shows the TCH. "Note that no portion of this highway is shown for Quebec as that province was not a party to the Federal-Provincial agreements concerning construction of the highway in the 1950s." The route is the same as on the 1980s map except that it used the Chapleau Route, present 169 and 11 from Foot's Bay to Orillia, 2 rather than 104 in western Nova Scotia, and present 23 to Wood Islands on PEI. --SPUI (T - C) 00:52, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

1967 agrees with the 1980s map.

1981 shows some alternate routes:

• Kenora to Thunder Bay via 71 and 11
• Thunder Bay to Ottawa via 11 and 17
• not clear if Sudbury to North Bay is included

--SPUI (T - C) 01:05, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

2002: Ontario Quebec shows the current routes, except 66 is omitted in Ontario - typo? --SPUI (T - C) 01:13, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Info in New Brunswick - note that Route 95 is part of the same planning:

"The Governments of Canada and New Brunswick are each contributing $10 million to twin 12 kilometres of Route 95 between Woodstock and the U.S. border into a four-lane divided highway, linking the Trans-Canada Highway to the border crossing."

--SPUI (T - C) 23:23, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Driver's-eye-view pictures of highway

Since the route of the TCH is described in this article going eastbound, any such pictures should show the eastbound direction as well.  Denelson83  07:42, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Now that would be POV... literarily --66.82.9.49 15:10, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

History, politics, construction

This article is so lacking! -b 04:42, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes it definately needs to be expanded. It would also be nice to see where the highway is 4 lanes and where it is only 2 lanes. Suoerh2 08:04, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Trivia re:name

Is there a source for "except residents of PEI who are known to refer to 'The One'?" I'm unfamilliar with this reference. --Nullhyp 10:32, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

My delete key itches when I look at the trivia section. I really needs sourcing and integration into the article. — Saxifrage ✎ 19:09, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Winnipeg-Ottawa re: Terry Fox

The status of Terry Fox overlooking the highway and the lake does not mark the spot where he ended his run. He ended the run about 5km east, in Shuniah. It is marked by a small white sign, originally placed by the province but maintained by a local individual. Vidioman 00:42, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Notes about branches

In 1965, there were two routes in Ontario, between Ottawa and Sudbury: the Ottawa Valley Route (17) and Central Ontario Route/Georgian Bay Route (7/12/103/69, changing name at Orillia).[1]

Other routes appear to be:

• Lake Superior Route (Highway 17, Sudbury to Manitoba)
• Northern Ontario Route (Highway 11, North Bay to Nipigon; spur on Highway 66 to Quebec)
• Voyageur Route (Highways 11 and 71, west of Thunder Bay to east of Kenora): no longer signed

--NE2 11:53, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Quality

The following section is an absolute, unadulterated piece of poorly-organized crap. I've removed it from the article for the time being, but am placing it here so that if somebody is prepared to put some work into making it readable, they have access to the information. Bearcat (talk) 05:49, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Standards

{{This section needs to contain much more details about speed, mobility, and safety characteristics of each of the many sections of the TCH from coast to coast. Information on the exact locations, numbers, and concentrations of traffic lights vs interchanges (which are much safer and more efficient on high speed high volume sections) is needed so these vital characteristics can be evaluated and compared between and among different sections of the TCH. This will show up which provinces are doing the best and worst jobs of upgrading the highway sections in their respective jurisdictions.|date=November 2009}}

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On the B.C. mainland, the Trans-Canada is currently undergoing major upgrades, especially in the Kicking Horse Pass area.[2]. However, on Vancouver Island the B.C. government is responding to growing traffic volumes by downgrading highway 1 to a heavily signalized local service arterial that offers little high mobility travel to intercity traffic. Vancouver Island has the only section of the entire TCH system in which speed and mobility are deteriorating over time rather than remaing stable or improving.

In Alberta the Trans-Canada is four-lane with the exception of a small part near the BC border. It was announced that some of this section would be twinned in 2008.[3]

In Saskatchewan the highway is now completely four-lane as a small section of the highway around Moosomin was finally twinned November 6, 2008.[4][5]

Manitoba is mostly four-lane, with some sections east of Winnipeg near the Canadian Shield not yet, but upgrades are planned in the future.[6][7]

In Northwestern Ontario there is a movement to get the Trans-Canada upgraded to four-lane status. ...except that this link is to a campaign in Northeastern Ontario...

With the exception of Highway 185 (which will become Autoroute 85 when complete) and and a stretch that uses Highway 117, Quebec's section of the Trans-Canada Highway is up to autoroute standard.

In New Brunswick the Trans-Canada is fully four-lane.

P.E.I.

Nova Scotia.

The majority of the Trans-Canada Highway in Newfoundland is undivided, though sections in Corner Brook, Grand Falls-Windsor, Glovertown and a 100 km section from Whitbourne to St. John's is divided.

"Longest national highway"

I changed the intro from saying that it is the "third longest national highway", after the Trans-Siberian Highway and Highway 1 (Australia), to "one of the world's longest national highways", due to a number of sources (see Google Books search) that state the Trans-Canada as the longest. -M.Nelson (talk) 02:52, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Not Canada's National Highway System

I see that National Highway System (Canada) redirects here. However, the Trans-Canada Highway is not Canada's National Highway System (NHS). It forms a part of the system, not the system as a whole. See Transport Canada's NHS web page, particularly the NHS Map. Hwy43 (talk) 06:12, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

I've long agreed that this was overdue, but have never had the gumption to really tackle it — but I've now finally started a basic article on the NHS itself at the National Highway System (Canada) title. Bearcat (talk) 06:32, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

Hooray! Thanks for starting. Cheers, Hwy43 (talk) 06:46, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

kilometres, "zero" point and numbering

The Trans-Canada Highway has been posted in kilometres since 1977, when all Canadian roads switched to metric.

The exit numbers on the highway are kilometres in Ontario (starting at Hawkesbury-Rigaud and ascending westward), Québec (starting at Hawkesbury-Rigaud and ascending eastward) and New Brunswick (starting at Edmunston and ascending eastward) but I'd suspect Nova Scotia is still using a sequential numbering system (starting Amherst, extending eastward) where the exit number is *not* the number of kilometres from the provincial border - much like 401 exits were once sequentially numbered instead of numbered on the basis of distance (the 401 was renumbered in the Trudeau era so that the exit number is the kilometre distance from Détroit). 66.102.83.61 (talk) 19:07, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

It appears the excerpt you extracted from the article has nothing to do with exit numbers. I interpret the excerpt, within the context of the section, as relating to posted distances along the highway. Hwy43 (talk) 04:27, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Out-of-date

"Completion of this upgrade is scheduled for winter 2010." is out-of-date. I'm not sure weather it got upgraded or not. Njaohnt (talk) 00:24, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

"All ten provinces"

Isn't Nunavut a province? · rodii · 02:15, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

It's a territory. They wanted to be a province, but Ottawa was having nunavut. The Interior (Talk) 02:18, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

FOGHORN! ;o) Hwy43 (talk) 09:55, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

Map is wrong

Image:TransCanadaHWY.png has la Transcanadienne following the north shore through Saint-Siméon to Tadoussac, crossing on the ferry to Rimouski and then backtracking to Rivière-du-Loup as one of the possible options? K7L (talk) 00:39, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

If the map is redone, I would like to burn the existing one and trout whomever was brilliant enough to have the background of Canada be a greyscale gradient, and the edges have shadows and some 3D edges. *shudders* - Floydian ^τ _¢ 17:27, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

origins of highway

The lead says "The system was approved by the Trans-Canada Highway Act of 1949,[3] with construction commencing in 1950". I found a source from 1940 that shows designations of existing highways in Ontario as the TCH, so perhaps early planning should be discussed. I don't have the source - just google snippet views of The Canadian Engineer Roads and Bridges Volume 78 - [[8]] MB 05:09, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Here is another snippet showing the route was being discussed in the Senate in 1936 (Journals of the Senate of Canada, Volume 74 - [[9]]). MB 05:51, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

There was an earlier concept of Trans-Canada Highway, but probably at a lower and inconsistent road quality standard. The original goal may have been to enable motorcar travel across the country, without necessarily making it smooth and fast, or safe for large amounts of traffic. Among the nine provinces, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick would have been connected, as would Ontario and Quebec, and the three Prairie provinces. The efforts would have been to provide auto transit to Prince Edward Island, connect Alberta to B.C. (and did not go through Rogers Pass - it took a substantial deviation north, part of which is now submerged by a man-made lake), New Brunswick to Quebec (Route 185 in Quebec, very slowly being upgraded to Autoroute 85), and the last link was to connect northeastern Ontario with northwestern Ontario, via the Highway 11 between Hearst and Nipigon. This final connection was targeted to be finished in 1942, but was not completed and opened until 1943.

Though "complete", this highway would still have been a wild adventure to transit through all nine provinces, particularly in B.C.'s interior and in northern Ontario, with a lot of unpaved road, sharp curves, steep grades, and few services (gas, repairs, food, lodging). The TCH project initiated by the St. Laurent government produced the road we know today: standard width, grades and curves; pavement; markings. It also added Newfoundland to the system, probably the single largest addition to the system as it created a new highway where there were no highways at all. GBC (talk) 00:17, 13 May 2019 (UTC)

Jurisdiction

I restored the Jurisdiction section as most of the information in (such as the route numbering) is already proved by the obviously common fact text in the route description, which falls under citing that the sky is blue. In any case, the links to the various provincial highway articles provide the needed proof to back up the section. Whatever isn't common fact could be deleted or references found (which is why I also restored the reference tag), but the section contains too much information about the oddities of the highway system relative to other national systems to simply be swept under the carpet. Transportfan70 (talk) 00:23, 14 July 2017 (UTC)

Requested move 11 March 2018

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: consensus not to move the page at this time / request withdrawn, per the discussion below. Dekimasuよ! 17:42, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

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Trans-Canada Highway → Trans-Canada highway – Per the decision arbitrarily invoked at Talk:Jungang line, the fact that it is a proper name is irrelevant, the "highway" should not be capitalised based on MOS - this is evidently more important than actual use. 2Q (talk) 19:07, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose—the proper name includes that last word, so it should be capitalized as well. This also follows common usage of the name. Imzadi 1979 → 19:16, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
• For my part, I also Oppose the move for the same reason. But WP:CONSISTENCY suggests that if the fact that the "Line" is part of the proper name of Jungang Line etc is irrelevant in view of MOS on capitalisation, then it should also be irrelevant here. 2Q (talk) 19:20, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per nom. WP:POINT made. Certes (talk) 19:52, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

Maybe a point is being made. But, I'm still genuinely asking for this move to be made - I'll support the move for consistency's sake, if we do one thing wrong, let's do everything wrong. 2Q (talk) 20:13, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

• Do a Wikipedia:Move review of the close on the line instead of this, esp. because the close started talking about precedents. 63.139.68.83 (talk) 20:15, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose as we capitalize official proper names, of which "highway" is a part of in this case. Hwy43 (talk) 23:20, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

but MOS:CAPS, WP:NCCAPS... 2Q (talk) 23:38, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose because it is part of the proper name and the nom should not use this page to make a point. Nom has now started a move review of the Jungang Line move and should withdraw this request, IMO. Shadow007 (talk) 01:20, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

Is there a "formal" way to withdraw the request? And the original nom wasn't *entirely* to make a point... I legit think that for consistency's sake, if we don't capitalise *all* proper names properly, then we shouldn't capitalise *any*. 2Q (talk) 01:31, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

I think you can just say it here if you want. Note/Comment: There is probably a distinction between railway stations/lines and highways. For example, all highways in Australia have a capitalised 'H'. Shadow007 (talk) 02:49, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose per above; common usage of name. -- Acefitt 16:13, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Abolished in Ontario

Hi I noticed Google Maps has Ontario abolish the higway and replaced it with Highway 17. You might need to delete some sections of the article. Jordf32123 (talk) 23:51, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

@Jordf32123: the TCH through Ontario is Highway 17. Ontario doesn't use a special marker for the TCH with the highway number on it, unlike other provinces. (Instead, they post a TCH marker next to the main highway marker.) Imzadi 1979 → 01:18, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

@Imzadi1979: It's actually gone missing. Have a look. (Qubec still has it) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jordf32123 (talk • contribs) 07:00, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

Google Maps is not a source that we can depend on. If it was truly abolished where is the press release or news coverage? This is something that would receive significant media coverage. Hwy43 (talk) 08:06, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

@Jordf32123: the Lake Superior Circle Tour has its own marker posted separately along the highways that carry it, just as the TCH has its own marker posted separately along Highway 17 in Ontario. Google doesn't put these auxiliary markers on the highway on their maps. However, Highway 1 in Manitoba uses a different marker because it carries the TCH, so Google uses a variant of that for the highway on their maps. It's not "proof" that Ontario abolished the TCH any more than it's proof that the Lake Superior Circle Tour have been discontinued, just a difference in signage practices. Imzadi 1979 → 17:08, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

@Imzadi1979: Wait found it. I must have zoomed into gaps or it actually mysteriously disappeared, which I am sure it did.

EDIT: Yeah I am pretty sure it disappeared because it specifically called itself "Highway 17". Must be a maintenance bug.

incorrect information

the section that covers Vancouver Island is mostly wrong. Whoever wrote it clearly doesn't live here or hasn't in this century. 2604:3D08:1B84:A900:80DB:2489:DC72:D548 (talk) 07:36, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

It is all 10 provinces and not only 9 provinces

You have that the highway goes through 9 of 10 provinces but, there are 10 provinces and the highway goes through them all. 188.149.56.32 (talk) 20:35, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

I think you are talking about this passage: '...the term "Trans-Canada Highway" often refers to the main route that consists of Highway 1 (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba), Highway 17 and 417 (Ontario), Autoroute 40, 20 and 85 (Quebec), Highway 2 (New Brunswick), Highway 104 and 105 (Nova Scotia) and Highway 1 (Newfoundland). This route starts in Victoria and ends in St. John's, passes through nine of the ten provinces...' This is correct - this "main route" does not involve PEI. PEI has a spur section of TCH but is not on this so-called "main route". Do you have a suggestion on how to word it more clearly? Indefatigable (talk) 01:00, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

I understood it, but to pander to those that don't, bam. A quick peer review for any errors would be appreciated as it is late. Hwy43 (talk) 07:42, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

Incorrect information

The trans Canada does NOT start in Victoria, it starts much further north in my town of Nanaimo. Specifically at Departure Bay in central Nanaimo, so please fix that.(Jcqpoier (talk) 06:18, 31 July 2022 (UTC))

Nope. It ferries from the mainland to Nanaimo and then proceeds south to end at Victoria. Hwy43 (talk) 06:45, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

The only road that connects eastern and western Canada

We read

An 83-kilometre (52 mi) segment of the Trans-Canada Highway between Thunder Bay and Nipigon is commemorated as the Terry Fox Courage Highway. Fox was forced to abandon his cross-country Marathon of Hope run here, and a bronze statue of him was later erected in his honour. The highway is the only road that connects eastern and western Canada. On January 10, 2016, the Nipigon River Bridge suffered a mechanical failure, closing the Trans-Canada Highway for 17 hours; the only alternative was to go through the United States, around the south side of Lake Superior.

I only see a 20 km segment, from jct 11 & 17, to jct 11 & 102, as being the real "only road" portion. Jidanni (talk) 07:40, 13 March 2023 (UTC)

Speed limit in Quebec

"The maximum speed limit on the Quebec Autoroute System (including the TCH) is a strictly enforced 100 km/h (62 mph)."

I believe that "a strictly enforced" should be removed, since it is unnecessary, there's no source for that claim, and it is false. The speed limit isn't enforced under 120 km/h unless other infractions are commited. Siberys (talk) 21:35, 15 March 2024 (UTC)