British Columbia Highway 17
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| Highway 17 |
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| Formed: | 1960 | ||||||||
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| South end: | Trans Canada Highway in Downtown Victoria, BC | ||||||||
| North end: | Hwy 99 in Delta, BC | ||||||||
| Major cities: | Victoria Saanich Delta |
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Highway 17 is actually two separate highways, one on Vancouver Island, the other on the Lower Mainland. The two highways are joined together by a ferry link.
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[edit] Vancouver Island section
The Island section of Highway 17 is known locally as the Patricia Bay Highway, and is the main artery through the Saanich peninsula. Highway 17 has had its present course through the area since 1960, when the BC Ferry terminal at Swartz Bay was completed. The "Pat Bay", as the Highway is known for short, is four lanes all the way from Victoria to Swartz Bay. The total length of the highway on the Island is 31 km (19 mi).
[edit] Route details
In the south, Highway 17 begins at the intersection of Douglas Street and Blanshard Street in Victoria, a little over 800 m (½ mi) north of the mile zero monument on Highway 1, although some maps show the highway starting at the intersection of Belleville and Oswego streets one block to the west of the provincial parliament/legislature buildings, and the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation's official records state that the highway only starts at Victoria's northern city limit.
From Douglas and Blanshard, The highway travels north for 3 km (19 mi) through the city of Victoria before leaving the city at Tolmie Avenue; 2 km (1¼ mi) north of Tolmie Avenue, Highway 17 turns into a 6 km-long freeway (4 mi), with three interchanges. After the third interchange at Royal Oak Drive, Highway 17 turns into a regular divided four-lane arterial, and goes for 14 km (9 mi) through mostly farmland, until it reaches the town of Sidney. After exiting Sidney 3 km (2 mi) later, the Pat Bay once again becomes a freeway, with two more interchanges along its length, toward its northern terminus at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal another 3 km north (2 mi).
[edit] Ferry route
At Swartz Bay, Highway 17 leaves Vancouver Island, and starts on a 44 km (27 mi)-long ferry route through the Southern Gulf Islands and the Strait of Georgia. The ferry route between Swartz Bay and the Mainland is the oldest and most heavily-used route in the B.C. Ferries system. After winding through the Gulf Islands, the route enters a small passage between Galiano and Mayne Islands, known as Active Pass. Active Pass is the midway point on the Highway 17 ferry route, but it is also the most hazardous part, as it has strong tidal currents, and has historically been the site of two maritime collisions involving BC ferry vessels, as well as one incident of a ferry running aground. Consequently, ferries going through Active Pass have to sound their whistles upon entering and leaving the passage, and must adhere to a lower speed limit while transiting through it.
After Active Pass, the Highway 17 ferry heads due northeast across the Strait of Georgia. Halfway across the Strait, the route actually enters water belonging to the United States. It then crosses the 49th parallel back into Canadian waters just before landing at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.
[edit] Mainland section
On the mainland, Highway 17 is 14 km (9 mi) in length. Beginning at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, Highway 17 proceeds northeast on a 3 km (2 mi) long shallow-bank causeway as 4 lane undivided arterial. 3 km (2 mi) northeast after making landfall as a 3-lane highway, Highway 17 reaches the intersection with 52nd Street in Tsawwassen, then 56th Street. Highway 17 then turns due north as a 4-lane expressway standard highway and reaches an interchange to Deltaport Way, 34B Avenue, and then a junction with a trunk road at Ladner, 6 km after 56th Street. 2 km north (1¼ mi), Highway 17 finally terminates at the on-ramp to Highway 99. It terminates onto River Road, a secondary connector from South Delta to North Delta which passes Wyman Tilbury.
[edit] List of exits
Leaving the Victoria city boundary, all of Highway 17 is a four-lane highway - large stretches of it being a freeway. All of these exits are in fact numbered, but they do not yet appear on any maps. Some of the at-grade traffic light intersections are also numbered, which is also the case for all of the signalized intersections on the Nanaimo Parkway and the Inland Island Highway.
All of the mainland section is considered a highway as well - mostly four lane - but none of the exits are numbered.
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[edit] Future construction and expansion
As part of the provincial government's Gateway Program, there is a plan to build a road known as the South Fraser Perimeter Road, that would link Highway 17 from just south of Ladner, along the River Road corridor through Delta alongside the Fraser River, through north Surrey and eventually connecting with the Trans Canada Highway, Highway 15, and the under-construction Golden Ears Bridge in Surrey. Other major connections would be at Highway 91 and Highway 99A. It will initially feature many at-grade intersections but is planned to be a full four-lane freeway in time.
Whether the road will officially be an extension of Highway 17 or just a road maintained by the cities of Delta and Surrey is yet to be determined.
On Vancouver Island, there have been numerous studies to upgrade the Island portion of Highway 17 to freeway standard. This seems to be edging closer with the BC Government's issuing of the Highway 17 Corridor Planning Strategy. This study envisions interchanges at Haliburton, Sayward, Keating Cross Road and/or Island View, Mt Newton Cross Road, McTavish Road and Beacon Avenue in Sidney.
It is likely the first new interchange to be built will be at McTavish Road as it is the main access point to Victoria International Airport and the airport is pushing the government to build this interchange prior to 2010.[1]
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