Highways The Coast Region of B.C is connected to the rest of B.C by various roads depending on the region. The populous Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland is linked to the rest of the province by
Highway 1 (Fraser Canyon Highway),
Highway 5 (Coquihalla Freeway),
Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) and
Highway 99 (Sea to Sky Highway). The Lower Mainland is also connected to the U.S. by four highway border crossings with the
Peace Arch on
Interstate 5 being the largest. Several freeways connect lower mainland communities together. The backbone of Vancouver Island's highway network is the
Highway 19 which along with a portion of Highway 1 forms the
Island Highway. The Island highway is a mix of 4-lane freeway, 4 lane arterial highway and 2 lane highway running roughly along the east shore of Vancouver Island. Access to the west coast of Vancouver Island can be accomplished by crossing mountain passes on
Highway 4 to
Tofino and
Highway 28 to
Gold River. Thousands of other roads ranging from small freeways near Victoria to logging roads exist all over the Island. Although the Sunshine Coast is on the mainland it is connected to the highway network only by ferries. It has one route which is
Highway 101, a narrow curvy 2 lane road split in two by a ferry crossing.
Texada Island, a large island off the Sunshine Coast and has its own network of highway standard roads although they are unnumbered. Owing to the challenging topography of the British Columbia Coast, there is no north–south highway linking the coastal communities of the province between
Port Hardy and
Kitimat. Instead, travellers utilize one of the coastal ferry lines operated by
BC Ferries. The exceptions are
Bella Coola is accessible by a long largely gravel
Highway 20 from the B.C interior over a high pass; and the towns of
Terrace,
Prince Rupert and
Kitimat which is assessed from the B.C. interior on
Highway 16. Haida Gwaii has an extension of
Highway 16 on it, one of Haida Gwaii's few paved roads.
Maritime routes '
Northern Expedition sails daily along the
Inside Passage route connecting
Prince Rupert and
Port Hardy. The sheltered waterways of the British Columbia Coast form part of the
Inside Passage, a coastal
maritime route along which vessels navigate to avoid the rough waters and bad weather of the open
North Pacific. As such, the maritime route is heavily trafficked by
cruise ships,
cargo ships,
ferries, and other marine vessels.
BC Ferries, an independently managed
publicly owned company, operates scheduled daily crossings between major population centres throughout the British Columbia Coast. Dozens of smaller ferries ply lesser routes within and between these regions. The
Alaska Marine Highway also operates nonstop ferry service through the British Columbia Coast along its Bellingham-Ketchikan route.
Ports The
Port of Vancouver is the largest commercial shipping
port in all of Canada and along the entire Pacific Ocean / Pacific coast of North America by
metric tons, which handles a total cargo volume of 76.5 million metric tons. By the same metric, the Port of Vancouver is also the fifth largest commercial shipping port in North America. The
Port of Prince Rupert possesses the deepest
ice-free natural harbour in North America, and the 3rd deepest natural harbour in the world. Situated at 54° North, the harbour is the northwesternmost port in North America linked to the continent's railway network. The port is the first inbound and last outbound port of call for some
cargo ships travelling between eastern Asia and western North America since it is the closest North American port to key Asian destinations.
Rail ==See also==