King George Highway The modern-day highways between the Peace Arch Border Crossing and New Westminster generally follow the
Semiahmoo Trail, an overland route used by indigenous
Coast Salish peoples that was later adopted by
fur traders and early non-indigenous
Fraser Valley settlers in the 1860s. The trail was replaced with a
wagon road that was completed by the provincial government in 1879. The
Pacific Highway was later built in the 1910s to connect Vancouver to
Seattle and the rest of the U.S. West Coast and marked by the Peace Arch, a monument dedicated in 1921 to commemorate the
Treaty of Ghent. The highway was later given number designations:
U.S. Route 99 in Washington was created as part of the
United States Numbered Highway System in 1926; and "Route R" in British Columbia was created in the 1930s. Construction of a modern highway to link Vancouver with the U.S. border, initially named the "Peace Arch Highway", began in 1931 with the establishment of a work camp in Surrey. The new highway would bypass a hilly section of the Pacific Highway south of Kingsway in
Cloverdale and be built with future expansion to four lanes. The city of
Burnaby later began planning for a new corridor to parallel Kingsway in lieu of widening the existing street, which was followed by a plan by New Westminster to improve its section of the highway; local officials in Delta requested the construction of a new highway to link the Peace Arch to
Ladner and
Lulu Island (modern-day Richmond). By July 1938, construction on all sections of the highway between the Peace Arch and the
Pattullo Bridge into New Westminster was underway. The first sections of the unpaved highway were opened in June 1939 and the gravel surfacing was completed from the Nicomekl River to New Westminster in October. The new roadway was renamed for
King George VI and numbered "Highway 99" by the provincial government to match U.S. Route 99 to the south; a special purple-and-gold
highway shield with the letters "G.R." was designed for Highway 99. The
King George VI Highway was dedicated by the provincial government at the Peace Arch on October 16, 1940, and cost $800,000 to construct. It had two fully paved lanes and featured a maximum
grade of 4 percent between the U.S. border and the Pattullo Bridge. Highway 99 continued northwest on Kingsway, which it shared with
Highway 1, through New Westminster to Downtown Vancouver and ended at the edge of Stanley Park.
Vancouver–Squamish Highway Highway 99 was extended to West Vancouver in 1956, crossing the existing Lions Gate Bridge across the First Narrows of the
Burrard Inlet, and continued along Marine Drive and Taylor Drive for to the new Upper Levels Highway. The Lions Gate Bridge opened in 1938 and was operated by the Guinness family until it was purchased by the provincial government in 1955; it was tolled until 1963. The , two-lane, undivided Upper Levels Highway opened on September 14, 1957, between Taylor Way in West Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay. It cost $1.3 million to construct and replaced a winding coastal section of Marine Drive, but initially lacked
guardrails and other safety features due to a rushed opening. Taylor Way was later widened to four lanes in early 1958 to handle increased traffic to the Upper Levels Highway, which was extended east to the
Second Narrows Bridge in 1961 and signed as part of the
Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1). The bridge acquisition and Upper Levels Highway construction were part of the provincial government's plan to complete the Vancouver–Squamish Highway, which would open vehicular access beyond Horseshoe Bay. The new highway was built alongside the government-owned
Pacific Great Eastern Railway (now BC Rail), which completed an extension along Howe Sound to Squamish on August 27, 1956, to connect with an existing route to
Prince George. Both corridors were preceded by the
Lillooet Cattle Trail, a wagon trail established in 1877 and used for a decade until it was replaced by inland railroads. Surveyors began work in 1949 to find a suitable route along Howe Sound to link existing roads that ended at Whytecliff (overlooking Horseshoe Bay) and Britannia Beach. Two competing routes emerged in the early 1950s: one following the Howe Sound coastline at a cost of approximately $6 million; and another that would travel north along the
Capilano River from West Vancouver for and cross over a pass at to follow Furry Creek to Britannia at an initial cost of $3.5 million. The Howe Sound route had been criticised for its higher cost and complexity due to the rugged terrain and parallel railroad; at the time, an
unpaved road along the Capilano–Furry route was passable for some traffic but a full highway would require steeper grades that would not be accessible during parts of the winter. Planning was delayed for several years by the provincial government to negotiate with the
Greater Vancouver Water District, who opposed the Capilano–Furry route due to its potential effects on the protected drinking water source for the city. The water district also cited the need for a
filtration plant to prevent highway debris and pollutants from contaminating the basin, which would cost up to $12 million. On May 18, 1954, the provincial cabinet announced that the Vancouver–Squamish Highway would be constructed along the Howe Sound route to a width of at an unspecified cost. The section between Britannia and Squamish had already been built by 1950 and improved later that year with $15,000 in funding to bypass a steep segment with 10–15 percent grades. Construction of a section north of Horseshoe Bay began in early 1955 under the same contractor as a parallel section of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. The provincial government also announced plans to build a highway extension to serve
Garibaldi Provincial Park north of Squamish, the site of planned tourist development and a potential
national park, in early 1956. Two more contracts were awarded by the end of the year and construction on all of the highway was underway by March 1956. Work on the highway began with clearing and explosive blasting of rock faces above the railway, which was protected by wooden boards laid over the tracks. An estimated of material was blasted or excavated for the highway project, which was delayed by a year due to the reassignment of labour to finish the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. The Vancouver–Squamish Highway, officially named the "Seaview Highway", was dedicated and opened to traffic on August 7, 1958, with 600 cars queued to drive the completed route from Horseshoe Bay to Squamish. The majority of the two-lane highway was paved in July through a rush order from the provincial government to complete a preliminary surface, while between Britannia and Squamish remained a gravel road with steeper grades and narrower turns. The project cost a total of $11 million to construct and was expected to attract investment in a planned ski resort at the base of Garibaldi Mountain. The new highway was later furnished with guard rails, curbs, and
culverts within a few weeks of opening; the paved and gravelled sections developed large
potholes within a month of opening, which required additional construction. The provincial government announced plans pave the Britannia–Squamish section and extend the highway to Pemberton and Lillooet by 1965 following requests from local business leaders. The existing route from Squamish to Lillooet was long and mostly unpaved, with some sections that required vehicles with
four-wheel drive to negotiate the terrain. Construction of an all-season gravel road to
Alta Lake at the base of
Whistler Mountain was announced in March 1962 as part of a larger development plan for a ski area that could host the
Winter Olympics. By the following June, four-wheel drive vehicles were able to access Alta Lake via the rudimentary gravel road, but it remained closed to the public. The Alta Lake extension was completed in time for the opening of the
Whistler Blackcomb ski area on January 15, 1966, which brought more traffic to the highway. A bypass of Squamish opened in March 1966 and the section to Alta Lake was paved by the end of the year. A resort town on the highway, named Whistler, was developed in the late 1970s and 1980s at the base of the mountain near Alta Lake. In 1969, the rebuilt and paved Britannia–Squamish section of Highway 99 opened at a cost of $2.5 million. The highway was occasionally closed during winters due to washouts, floods, and rockslides that required explosives to clear. The paved highway was extended to Pemberton and Mount Currie by 1975.
Vancouver–Blaine Freeway construction In 1953, Minister of Public Works
Phil Gaglardi proposed a four-lane freeway that would connect the U.S. border to Vancouver via Richmond's
Lulu Island with a connection to Vancouver International Airport. The proposal would extend Highway 99 and incorporate the
Oak Street Bridge, a new road crossing of the Fraser River's North Arm that replaced the aging
Marpole Bridge in 1957. Specific routing plans were kept a "closely-guarded secret" by the provincial government to prevent land speculation from increasing costs; Gaglardi also proposed financing the new highway as a limited-access
tollway that would eventually continue through Vancouver to the Lions Gate Bridge and Upper Levels Highway. A survey team was dispatched to find a location for the envisioned freeway to cross the Fraser River's South Arm and four candidate sites were identified in early 1955:
Port Mann in Surrey,
Annacis Island near New Westminster,
Deas Island near Ladner, and
Tilbury Island. A tunnel at the Deas Island site, which would replace an
existing ferry and cost up to $17 million, was announced as the winning option in February 1956 following a recommendation from a contracted engineering firm. Construction began with a ceremonial cement pouring overseen by premier
W. A. C. Bennett in May 1957 and was conducted using a set of six concrete
immersed tubes that were constructed on the shore. The Deas Island Tunnel and its section approaches on Lulu Island and near Ladner were opened for a preview weekend beginning May 23, 1959, where it attracted 133,000 vehicles. The tunnel was formally dedicated by
Queen Elizabeth II on July 15, 1959, and later renamed the
George Massey Tunnel. Tolls were collected at both the four-lane tunnel and the Oak Street Bridge until March 31, 1964. A regional freeway network for Greater Vancouver was proposed by a provincial government report in April 1959 and included a six-lane freeway that followed Arbutus Street from the Oak Street Bridge to a loop around Downtown Vancouver that connected to the Lions Gate Bridge. The freeway alignment of Highway 99 between 8th Avenue in South Surrey and the North Arm of the Fraser River opened in 1962 and was originally named the Deas (Island) Throughway. Between 1964 and 1973, the freeway alignment of Highway 99 was designated Highway 499; the old alignment was redesignated as
Highway 99A. The four-lane, freeway between the Deas Island Tunnel and the U.S. border was opened on May 29, 1962, by premier Bennett and Washington Governor
Albert D. Rosellini. It cost $57 million to construct and was funded by the provincial government.
Lillooet extension and other projects An unpaved logging road from Pemberton Valley to Lillooet, later named Duffey Lake Road, was built in the 1960s and opened to limited recreational use in 1972. The road was widened to a width of and opened to the public on weekends and outside of logging periods to access recreational areas and bypass the congested Fraser Canyon highways. The provincial government provided funding for maintenance for several years before formally taking control on April 1, 1979. Early concepts for an extension of Highway 99 to Lillooet in the 1960s included a ferry to cross
Anderson and
Seton lakes. Paving of Duffey Lake Road began in 1990 and was mostly completed by the end of the following year at a cost of $22.5 million. During construction, a group from the
Lil'wat First Nation blockaded the road at
Mount Currie during a conflict with Lillooet residents and authorities; the section through the community was left unpaved for several years. The paved section was incorporated into an extension of Highway 99 in 1992.
Olympics upgrades and later history The Horseshoe Bay–Pemberton section of Highway 99 was renamed the Sea to Sky Highway in the 1980s and remained a two-lane undivided highway with various safety issues. It had no outside barrier to prevent vehicles from falling off the steep cliff overlooking Howe Sound or to prevent rocks from overhead bluffs from hitting the highway. Fatalities on the section were attributed to inclement weather conditions that changed rapidly, A major reconstruction of the highway, including widening sections to four lanes between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish, was proposed by political leaders in 1981 following the death of nine people who had driven off a washed out wooden bridge over
M Creek. At the time, the Sea to Sky Highway had five wooden bridges that had yet to be replaced. The provincial government announced a $110 million plan to improve the highway, which was outfitted with passing lanes and new bridges by the end of the decade. The bid also considered a new highway to bypass parts of the corridor, including a tunnel under
Grouse Mountain or a toll road through Indian Arm, but they were not advanced for further planning. A large section had already been upgraded between Squamish and Whistler in 2002, prior to the Olympics being awarded, to improve upon work done during the 1980s. The Sea to Sky is a freeway from the interchange with Highway 1 to the at-grade intersection with Lawrence Way. After that, there are sporadic interchanges and at-grade intersections. It is mostly a divided highway all the way to Lions Bay and through Squamish. The project cost $600 million and included the construction of large retaining walls, wider bridges able to withstand earthquakes, and mesh screens for rockfalls. Several bilingual signs with place names in the
Squamish language (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) and special highway markers shaped like paddles were also installed on Highway 99 by April 2009 as part of the project. On-site protests delayed part of the construction, especially near wildlife habitats in the Eagleridge Bluffs of West Vancouver. Protesters claimed that a tunnel was a safer and environmentally friendlier alternative. A court injunction and police were used to remove the protestors, one of whom,
Harriet Nahanee, a respected
Squamish elder, died soon after in the Surrey Pre-Trial Centre from health complications alleged to be related to her arrest and incarceration. Plans to build a new highway through West Vancouver to directly connect the Lions Gate Bridge to the Upper Levels Freeway were rejected by the provincial government following a study that determined it would not be cost-effective. As a result of the highway reconstruction, crashes on the section dropped by 66 percent; communities along the corridor also saw significant population growth, in part because the highway made longer commutes more viable. Shuttle buses ran between Vancouver and Whistler for spectators and other visitors during the Olympics.
Future plans In 2006, the provincial government announced the
Gateway Program, a major regional transportation plan that would include a replacement for the George Massey Tunnel. Under the plan, the tunnel would be tolled and twinned to add an additional lane in each direction, but it was given a lower priority due to its potential effects of moving traffic bottlenecks to the Oak Street and Knight Street bridges. The twinning proposal was one of several options considered during a public consultation in 2012, which resulted in a new proposal from Liberal premier
Christy Clark to build a ten-lane toll bridge that would cost $3.5 billion to construct. Following the
2017 election, the
New Democratic Party announced the cancellation of the bridge proposal and commissioned an independent review with alternative plans. A plan to build an eight-lane immersed tube tunnel with dedicated transit, bicycle, and pedestrian access was announced in August 2021. It is planned to be completed in 2030 at a cost of $4.15 billion. Proposals to build an alternative Burrard Inlet road crossing to replace the Lions Gate Bridge have been announced by various business groups and political leaders since the 1930s, with more serious studies undertaken in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The NDP government in the mid-1990s also considered a tunnel, but chose instead to re-deck the Lions Gate Bridge with work completed in 2001. The project also included widening of the
Stanley Park Causeway and the removal of trees in the park, which caused protests from environmental groups. The
Vancouver Park Board approved of an agreement with TransLink, the city and provincial governments, and
ICBC in 2000 to allow the widening on the condition that private vehicular traffic on the causeway and Lions Gate Bridge would be banned in 2030 if a new crossing were built. The agreement was not included in the final contract, but a closure of the bridge to vehicular traffic is listed in the City of Vancouver's 2040 plan. ==Major intersections==