British Columbia Highway 1 - Lower Mainland Section - Route Details

Route Details

Highway 1's total length in the Lower Mainland is 170 km (106 mi). On the Mainland, the highway begins at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in West Vancouver. From here to the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, the highway is known locally as the Upper Levels Highway. There are nine interchanges on the 14 km (9 mi) stretch of the Highway within West Vancouver. The first interchange east of Horseshoe Bay brings Highway 99 onto a common alignment with Highway 1. After Taylor Way, where Highway 99 takes the exit off Highway 1, the highway then crosses over the Capilano River into the District of North Vancouver. Highway 1 travels for 9 km (6 mi) through the District and the City of North Vancouver, passing through seven interchanges, until crossing the 1292 m (4239 ft) long Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing over the Burrard Inlet into Vancouver. (The bridge, previously known as the Second Narrows Bridge, was renamed to honour the 27 workers who lost their lives during its construction.)

The 4 km (2½ mi) long stretch of Highway 1 through the eastern part of Vancouver is the only freeway within Vancouver's city limits. In Vancouver, Highway 1 travels through the Cassiar Tunnel and passes through three interchanges before crossing into Burnaby at the interchange with Boundary Road. The Burnaby stretch of Highway 1 is 11 km long (7 mi), and goes through four interchanges before proceeding into Coquitlam. The Coquitlam stretch of Highway 1 lasts 7 km (4 mi), with two interchanges along its length. The easternmost interchange on Highway 1 in Coquitlam leads to Highway 7. Once out of Coquitlam, Highway 1 crosses the Fraser River over the Port Mann Bridge into Surrey.

Sections of Highway 1 from the Grandview Highway to 152nd Street in Surrey vary from being 3 to 4 lanes in each direction, with one of these lanes being a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane. These HOV lanes were constructed in 1998 as part of the BC MOT's "Go Green" project to promote the use of HOV vehicles, and cost 62 million dollars.

In Surrey, Highway 1 has three interchanges, the most easterly interchange of the three leading to Highway 15. 12 km (7 mi) east of the Highway's entry into Surrey, the Highway crosses into the Township of Langley. There are three interchanges on Highway 1 in its 18 km (11 mi) long stretch through Langley. One leads to 200 St., Langley's major thoroughfare, the second leads to Highway 10, and the third leads to Highway 13. Highway 1 then crosses from Metro Vancouver into the Fraser Valley Regional District on its entry into Abbotsford. There are six interchanges on Highway 1 in its 33 km (21 mi) long stretch through Abbotsford, one of which leads to Highway 11. Once Highway 1 leaves Abbotsford, it crosses over the Vedder Canal into Chilliwack. The highway goes through Chilliwack for 24 km (15 mi), passing through six interchanges within the city (Yale Road West, Lickman Road, Evans Road, Vedder Road, Prest Road, and Annis Road).

2 km (1¼ mi) after leaving Chilliwack, Highway 1 reaches an interchange with Highway 9. East of the Highway 9 interchange, Highway 1 hugs the south bank of the Fraser River for 35 km (22 mi), passing through seven interchanges, until reaching the interchange with Highway 3 at Hope. Highway 1 takes the exit off the freeway at this point. (The freeway alignments of Highways 3 and 5 continue from this exit, Exit 170, and Highway 5 continues as a freeway until it meets up again with Highway 1 just west of Kamloops at Exit 362.) Most traffic traveling between Hope and Kamloops follow Highway 5 as it takes over an hour and a half less time to travel compared to following Highway 1.