Yellowhead Highway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16) |
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| Length: | 2,960 km (1,838 mi) |
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| Formed: | 1962 |
| Direction: | West-East |
| From: | Masset |
| To: | Winnipeg |
| Major cities: | Prince Rupert, Prince George, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg |
| System: | Trans-Canada Highway |
The Yellowhead Highway is a major east-west highway connecting the four western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Although part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, the highway should not be confused with the more southerly originally designated Trans-Canada Highway. In the 1980s the green and white Trans-Canada logo began to be used to designate the roadway. The main Yellowhead Highway is designated as Highway 16 for its entire length.
The highway is named for the Yellowhead Pass, the route chosen to cross the Canadian Rockies.
In the west, the highway begins at Masset, British Columbia in the Queen Charlotte Islands, heading south along Graham Island for 101 km to Skidegate. It then connects via a 172 km-long ferry route to Prince Rupert, then passes southeastward for 724 km through to Prince George, then goes another 268 km through to Tête Jaune Cache, enters Alberta through the Rocky Mountains near Jasper (100 km from Tête Jaune Cache), and passes through Edmonton another 366 km later, and Saskatoon 532 km later, before meeting the main Trans-Canada Highway 1 at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, 697 km from Saskatoon. It then piggybacks (or "multiplexes") with the TCH into Winnipeg. Officially, the eastern end of the Yellowhead Highway is at the corner of Portage Avenue and Main Street in Winnipeg. The total length of the Yellowhead Highway, including ferries, is 2,960 km.
A spur of the Yellowhead Highway, Highway 5, also known as the Southern Yellowhead Highway, connects the main highway at Tête Jaune Cache, British Columbia midway between the Alberta-British Columbia border and Prince George. The highway continues past Kamloops before following the Coquihalla Highway to Hope.
The Yellowhead Highway Association has been lobbying to continue the Southern Yellowhead Highway designation past Hope to Abbotsford. This would cause the segment of the Trans Canada Highway between Hope and Abbotsford to have a dual designation.
[edit] See also
- List of Canadian highways by province
- Highway 5 (British Columbia)
- Highway 16 (British Columbia)
- Highway 16 (Alberta)
- Highway 16 (Saskatchewan)
- Highway 16 (Manitoba)
