All photos are eastbound except in Fernie.


Old Hope Princeton Way in Hope is, unsurprisingly, old BC 3. The freeway bypass was only built in 1986 as part of the Coquihalla Highway, so the older signs in this set of photos very likely were on BC 3 itself back in the day. Although the freeway is now both BC 3 and BC 5, this is not old BC 5 because that followed what's now BC 5A to Princeton.


The end of Old Hope Princeton Way. Click for closeup. Just kidding, but that'd be cool.


Bike traffic along BC 3 (a freeway with bicycles, apparently) is told to cross the ramp to continue. This would be alright except that ramp traffic does not have any warning of bicycles on the freeway.


The Yellowhead Highway has lost a little of its yellow at its split from the Crowsnest Highway. Exit numbers have been following TCH 1 since Vancouver, but since that leaves the freeway (at Exit 170) and heads on a more roundabout alignment to Kamloops, BC 5 just continues its exit numbers and BC 3 must exit itself. BC 3 was here first, so I argue BC 5 should have to start over.


A bunch of 1949-1950 bridges along the BC 3/93 concurrency: Little Sand Creek, Jaffray Overhead (a railway crossing east of Jaffray), then Big Sand Creek for two photos. These two routes cannot junction themselves, yet here they are doing that.


Leaving BC 93, BC 3 gets another 1950 bridge on the Elko Overhead (again, railway), then an even more interesting structure a few kilometres to the east.


BC 3 in all its crowy, nesty goodness, then the Lizard Creek bridge that I'm sure also dates to 1950 or so.


Entering Fernie. When BC used this font, children were still allowed on highways. Now, it's just cars and trucks.


Remember how I said all photos are EB except in Fernie? Well, these are WB in Fernie. You can see that the light is green in one photo but blank in the next - so these are flashing green. The thing is, there are no signals facing the side street. BC is one of the places that uses flashing green for a pedestrian signal - MA being another. If it turns red, pedestrians are free to cross, and 7th St. traffic will have an easier time pulling out. Otherwise, they have a stop sign.


BC uses the cutout moose as a standard sign, but I think this one past Sparwood has had some alteration.


A new bridge for Alexander Creek is being constructed, and traffic is shifted onto a temporary bridge because the old one was too narrow to replace in halves.


Had to share the scenery at Crowsnest Pass. The summit, including this lake, is entirely within BC, and the AB border follows the east edge of it. This was an ancient First Nations trail that was shown to the Caucasians as a new path over the Rockies, and for cars BC-AB 3 was historically shorter and faster than TCH 1 between Hope and Medicine Hat. However, heavy vehicles have a tough time with the grades and curves, and with improvements to the TCH as well as the completion of the BC 5 freeway, the northerly route is now shorter and faster.

Onto BC 93 alone

Onto BC 5
Into Alberta on 3
BC 3 Non-Roads
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