 .svg) Crowsnest Highway | |
|---|---|
| Highway 3 | |
 The Crowsnest Highway highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 1,161 km (721 mi) |
| Existed | 1932–present |
| Component highways | BC 3,AB 3 |
| Major junctions | |
| West end |  Highway 1 (TCH) nearHope |
| Major intersections | |
| East end |  Highway 1 (TCH) inMedicine Hat |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Provinces | British Columbia,Alberta |
| Highway system | |
| National Highway System | |
TheCrowsnest Highway is an east-west highway inBritish Columbia andAlberta,Canada. It stretches 1,161 km (721 mi) across the southern portions of both provinces, fromHope, British Columbia toMedicine Hat, Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection between theLower Mainland andsoutheast Alberta through theCanadian Rockies. Mostly two-lane, the highway was officially designated in 1932, mainly following a mid-19th-century gold rush trail originally traced out by an engineer namedEdgar Dewdney. It takes its name from theCrowsnest Pass, the location at which the highway crosses theContinental Divide between British Columbia and Alberta.
InBritish Columbia, the highway is entirely in mountainous regions and is also known as the Southern Trans-Provincial Highway. The western-most segment between theTrans-Canada Highway andHighway 5A is locally known as theHope-Princeton Highway, and passes by the site of theHope Slide. In Alberta, the terrain is initially mountainous, before smoothing to foothills and eventually generally flat prairie in the vicinity of Pincher Creek. The highway forms part of theRed Coat Trail and theCANAMEX Corridor fromHighway 2 nearFort Macleod toHighway 4 inLethbridge.Many sections of the highway were built by Japanese labour while they wereinterned during the Second World War, including sections like the Hope-Princeton. This history has been preserved at a heritage marker atSunshine Valley, which was the largest internment camp in Canada.
Crowsnest Highway is designated a core route in Canada'sNational Highway System, and is designated as Highway 3 for its entire length.[1]
The Crowsnest Highway's western terminus is at Hope, where it branches off from the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1). The highway goes east for 7 km (4 mi) to its junction with the Coquihalla Highway (Highway 5), where it exits the freeway and continues for 127 km (79 mi) on a segment known as theHope-Princeton Highway, passing theHope Slide en route toAllison Pass,Manning Provincial Park, and Sunday Summit; at Princeton, the Crowsnest Highway meetsHighway 5A.[2] East of Princeton, the Crowsnest Highway goes southeast for 67 km (42 mi) toKeremeos, where it meetsHighway 3A, leading towardsPenticton andHighway 97. Another 46 km (29 mi) southeast, and the Crowsnest Highway reachesOsoyoos and a junction withHighway 97.
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Approximately 52 km (32 mi) east of Osoyoos, the Crowsnest Highway reaches its junction withHighway 33 atRock Creek, then the highway heads east for 70 km (43 mi) to its junction withHighway 41, just before passing throughGrand Forks. Another 26 km (16 mi) east, the Crowsnest Highway meetsHighway 395 at the southern end ofChristina Lake.[2] The Crowsnest Highway travels for 47 km (29 mi) throughBonanza Pass to its junction withHighway 3B atNancy Greene Lake, which is the cutoff toRossland andTrail. It is another 26 km (16 mi) east toCastlegar, where the Crowsnest Highway intersectsHighway 22 and Highway 3A, leading towardsNelson. Approximately 26 km (16 mi) east of Castlegar, the Crowsnest Highway reaches its eastern junction with Highway 3B; another 11 km (6.8 mi) to the east it converges withHighway 6 atSalmo and the two highways share aconcurrency for 14 km (9 mi) to Burnt Flat.[2]
The Crowsnest Highway continues through theKootenay Pass on the Salmo-Creston Highway, a stretch known colloquially as theKootenay Skyway, orSalmo-Creston Skyway. 67 km (42 mi) east of Burnt Flat, the Crowsnest Highway reachesCreston, just past junctions withHighway 21 and Highway 3A. 40 km (25 mi) later, south ofYahk,Highway 95 merges onto the Crowsnest Highway. The two highways share a common alignment for 72 km (45 mi) northeast toCranbrook and the junction withHighway 95A. Another 6 km (4 mi) east, Highway 95 diverges north whileHighway 93 merges onto the Crowsnest Highway from a shared alignment. Highway 93 and the Crowsnest share a common alignment for the next 53 km (33 mi) southeast toElko, where Highway 93 diverges south. 31 km (19 mi) northeast of Elko, the Crowsnest Highway reachesFernie, then it goes north another 30 km (19 mi) to its junction withHighway 43 atSparwood, and another 19 km (12 mi) east, the highway reaches the boundary with Alberta at Crowsnest Pass.[2]
The Alberta portion of the Crowsnest Highway is also designated asHighway 3, running for approximately 323 km (201 mi) from the British Columbia border to Medicine Hat. It begins in Crowsnest Pass paralleling the Canadian Pacific Railway, first meetingHighway 40 atColeman, then running 26 km (16 mi) east to the southern terminus ofHighway 22.Highway 6 splits south nearPincher Creek. Approximately 50 km (31 mi) east of Pincher Creek, the highway becomes divided and interchanges withHighway 2 with which it is briefly concurrent, assuming the designation of theRed Coat Trail and CANAMEX Corridor. It proceeds for 5 km (3 mi) into the town of Fort Macleod, after which Highway 2 splits south toCardston and theUnited States border. Highway 3 then crosses theOldman River east of Fort Macleod nearMonarch, prior to a partial interchange withHighway 23.[3]
AfterCoalhurst, the highway reaches Westview Drive W, which provides access toWest Lethbridge. It then becomes a freeway named Crowsnest Trail as it reachesHighway 25 which branches north toPicture Butte while University Drive runs south to theUniversity of Lethbridge as the main thoroughfare through West Lethbridge. Highway 3 again crosses the Oldman River in central Lethbridge and the freeway segment ends atMayor Magrath Drive, marking the northern terminus ofHighway 5. The highway meets the northern end ofHighway 4 at the eastern limit of Lethbridge before continuing east toCoaldale andTaber.[3] Within Taber,Highway 36 runs concurrently with Highway 3 for 3 km (2 mi). The highway reduces to a two-lane undivided road and the Crowsnest Highway ends 113 km (70 mi) later at theTrans-Canada Highway in Medicine Hat.
Alberta Transportation has long-term plans to upgrade the entire Highway 3 corridor to a freeway from the British Columbia border to Medicine Hat.[4][5] The plans include the construction of a Lethbridge bypass to render the CANAMEX Corridor free-flowing through southern Alberta, in combination with proposed bypasses of Fort Macleod,Claresholm andNanton.[6][7] The route would split from Highway 3 west of Coalhurst and run east, bypassing Lethbridge and Coaldale to the north before rejoining the existing highway.[7]
During the2021 British Columbia floods, the Crowsnest Highway was closed by landslides, as were the other routes connecting theLower Mainland with the rest of Canada. It was the first of these routes to reopen.[8] During the period when it was the only road route between Metro Vancouver and the rest of Canada, it experienced a high rate of crashes among heavy trucks driving faster than the route's windy curves would allow for.[9]
The following is a list of major intersections along the Crowsnest Highway:[2][10][6][11]
| Province | Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | Hope | 0.0 | 0.0 | Highway 1 (TCH) –Vancouver,Cache Creek,Kamloops,Prince George | West end of Hwy 5 concurrency; exit 170 |
| | 6.7 | 4.2 |  Highway 5 north (Coquihalla Highway) –Merritt,Kelowna,Kamloops | East end of Hwy 5 concurrency; exit 177 | |
| Princeton | 133.9 | 83.2 |  Highway 5A north –Merritt,Kamloops | ||
| Keremeos | 201.1 | 125.0 |  Highway 3A north –Penticton | ||
| Osoyoos | 247.1 | 153.5 |  Highway 97 –Penticton,Kelowna,U.S. Border,Wenatchee | ||
| Rock Creek | 299.1 | 185.9 |  Highway 33 north –Kelowna | ||
| nearGrand Forks | 368.5 | 229.0 |  Highway 41 south –U.S. Border | ||
| nearChristina Lake | 392.1 | 243.6 |  Highway 395 south –U.S. Border,Spokane | ||
| | 441.5 | 274.3 |  Highway 3B east –Rossland,Trail | ||
| Castlegar | 467.9 | 290.7 |  Highway 22 south –Rossland,Trail | ||
| 469.2 | 291.5 | Highway 3A east –Nelson | |||
| | 495.7 | 308.0 | Highway 3B east –Trail,Rossland | ||
| Salmo | 506.1 | 314.5 |  Highway 6 north –Nelson | West end of Hwy 6 concurrency | |
| | 520.2 | 323.2 | Highway 6 south –U.S. Border,Spokane | East end of Hwy 6 concurrency | |
| Creston | 585.1 | 363.6 |  Highway 21 south –U.S. Border,Coeur d'Alene | ||
| 586.5 | 364.4 |  Highway 3A north –Kootenay Lake Ferry,Nelson | |||
| Yahk | 626.6 | 389.4 |  Highway 95 south –U.S. Border,Coeur d'Alene | West end of Hwy 95 concurrency | |
| Cranbrook | 698.9 | 434.3 |  Highway 95A north –Kimberley | ||
| | 704.3 | 437.6 |  Highway 93 north /Highway 95 north –Invermere,Radium Hot Springs | East end of Hwy 95 concurrency; west end of Hwy 93 concurrency | |
| Elko | 760.1 | 472.3 | Highway 93 south –U.S. Border,Kalispell | West end of Hwy 93 concurrency | |
| Sparwood | 821.9 | 510.7 |  Highway 43 north –Elkford | ||
| Alberta – British Columbia border | 841.3 | 522.8 | Crowsnest Pass (Continental Divide) | ||
| Alberta | Crowsnest Pass | 856.9 | 532.5 |  Highway 40 north (Forestry Trunk Road) | |
| nearLundbreck | 883.1 | 548.7 |  Highway 22 north –Longview,Black Diamond,Turner Valley | ||
| | 903.2 | 561.2 |  Highway 6 south –Pincher Creek,Waterton Park | ||
| Fort Macleod | 946.7 | 588.3 |  Highway 2 north –Calgary | West end of Hwy 2 concurrency | |
| 951.9 | 591.5 | Highway 2 south –Cardston,Waterton Park | East end of Hwy 2 concurrency;Red Coat Trail western terminus | ||
| | 973.1 | 604.7 |   Highway 3A east toHighway 23 north –Monarch,Vulcan | Eastbound access to Hwy 23 | |
| Monarch | 978.4 | 607.9 | Highway 3A west /Highway 23 north –Vulcan,Calgary | Westbound exit, eastbound entrance | |
| Lethbridge | 994.4 | 617.9 |  Highway 25 north –West Lethbridge,Picture Butte | ||
| 997.6 | 619.9 |   ToHighway 4 /Highway 5 (1 Avenue S / Scenic Drive) /Red Coat Trail | East end ofRed Coat Trail concurrency | ||
| 1,000.7 | 621.8 | Highway 5 south (Mayor Magrath Drive) –Cardston | |||
| 1,003.1 | 623.3 | Highway 4 south (43 Street) –Coutts,U.S. Border,Great Falls | |||
| Taber | 1,049.9 | 652.4 |  Highway 36 south –Warner | West end of Hwy 36 concurrency | |
| 1,052.5 | 654.0 | Highway 36 north –Vauxhall,Brooks | East end of Hwy 36 concurrency | ||
| Medicine Hat | 1,165.3 | 724.1 | Highway 1 (TCH) –Calgary,Swift Current Highway 41A east (Gershaw Drive SW) | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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...Alberta Transportation strives for a higher standard of roadway, and therefore seeks to protect the future Highways 1 and 3 for a 130 km/h design speed (110 km/h posted speed).
In the mid-2000s, Alberta Transportation (AT) identified the entirety of Highway 3 as part of the newly-designated freeway system.
