BC Travellers

Information of interest to commuters, tourists and recreational drivers in rural and urban BC.

Everything You Need to Know About Travel Advisories on BC Highways

Ministry staff and our highway maintenance contractors work around the clock to keep travellers on BC highways moving safely, but sometimes extreme weather (or other emergency conditions) create special circumstances that can pose challenges for motorists. When that happens we place a specific travel advisory on DriveBC to help bring attention to the event and help travellers make better plans based on those conditions. We take a number of factors into consideration when we post a travel advisory, such...

We spend a lot of our time working on ways to keep folks safe and sound while travelling BC Highways. Did you know that we also spend a great deal of time looking for ways to help fish, fowl and forest creatures find their way as well? That’s the job of our Environmental Management folks and our Environmental Enhancement Fund (EEF) helps them do that. Created in 2003 to help deliver a wide range of environmentally driven projects on...

A strange thing happens when you’re travelling BC’s highways and you head through Rogers Pass, drive a section of Highway 93, cruise alongside Long Beach near Tofino, or travel Highway 97, 133 kilometres north of Dawson Creek. You see, the ground under your tires changes… You may think that’s provincially owned and operated road beneath you…but it’s not. These stretches of road are owned and operated by the federal government’s Parks Canada Agency, which has a long involvement with the...

We’ve introduced better chain-up regulations for commercial vehicles, which will provide more clarity for professional drivers this winter. That means safer roads, too. The changes come in the wake of one of our worst winters for highway closures. Unprepared commercial trucks caused 41 highway closures because they were either poorly equipped or totally unequipped with chains. In some cases, this was due to the driver’s inability to install the chains properly. Loss of traction in winter conditions leads to...

National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims

re-mem-brance (ri-mem-‘br-ens) noun. the act or process of remembering the state of being remembered Today (Nov. 21) is National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims in Canada– a day set aside to remember those killed or seriously injured on Canadian roads. It’s also a time to consider the victims’ friends and families who are left struggling with the sudden loss of people they love. We choose not to use the word “accident” because these crashes are more often...

Starting this week, we are restricting commercial vehicles from using the far left lane northbound on the Coquihalla’s Snowshed Hill between Box Canyon and Zopkios with our No Trucks in the Left Lane pilot program (other select routes in the Interior to possibly follow). The restriction is in effect year-round. The Coquihalla Highway is one of the province’s busiest mountain passes. Both passenger and commercial vehicles rely on it as a primary connection between the Lower Mainland and the...

A feisty herd of BC mountain goats were thrilled to discover a salt patch had magically bloomed, seemingly overnight, in a bluff of trees near Nelson. They got straight to work licking the salt, with no further concern for their old salt spot along Highway 31, with its zooming traffic. This “intercept” salt lick was the brain child of the ministry’s wildlife specialist looking for ways to prevent the animals from hanging around the highway, where they are at...

Darkness falls. A cold wind blows – bending gnarled tree branches and creating strange shapes and distorted shadows… Halloween is here. We love Halloween, and we know you love it too. In order to keep the good times rolling for everyone, the folks at ICBC shared these helpful tips to keep drivers and pedestrians safe out there during the season: Smart Driver tips Stay well below the speed limit: Did you know that a car going 30 km/hr needs...

Commercial drivers on the Coquihalla have a lot more room to equip their vehicles with chains now that the Box Canyon chain-up facility has expanded from 14 to more than 70 parking spaces. But the larger site will be unchartered territory for many professional drivers this winter. Whiteout conditions combined with road markings hidden by snow and ice could make identifying parking spaces and through lanes difficult. So, to help you prepare for the next big winter storm on...

Highlighting BC highway history is important – and that doesn’t just mean shining a light on the gleaming parts of our past – it also includes bringing light to those darker parts of our history that we must learn from so we can move forward. Knowing how and why we experienced past successes and failures help us plot a better course for the future, which is why we are humbled and proud to have unveiled eight special Stop of...