This is the Trans-Canada Highway east of Golden, British Columbia. The name of this area is Kicking Horse Canyon (that's the Kicking Horse River to the left). This is one of the many dangerous stretches of the Trans-Canada in BC that is being widened and upgraded to make it safer.
I remember the first time traveling through here. It was the summer of 1967, I was 4, and utterly terrified because of all the switchbacks and steep roads. The scenery is spectacular, but the road is one where the drivers have to be especially careful. There have been quite a number of severe injuries and fatalities over the years. It's especially nerve-wracking in winter, with cars sharing the roadway with long-haul truckers (there are runaway lanes at some points in case truckers' brakes ever fail).
This photo is from the article in tonight's CBC.ca newsletter. It explains that this route is going to be closed to all but local traffic for several days so highway crews can work on the reconstruction without having to worry about other traffic getting in the way. The article says that the necessary detours can add up to 90 minutes' extra travel time (decades ago before the Coquihalla Highway offered a shorter route through the mountains, it took 8-9 hours to get from Red Deer to Vernon, where we'd spend summer holidays either at my aunt and uncle's home or at the cabin on Okanagan Lake just over the mountain).
Trans-Canada Highway east of Golden to close for 5 days after Easter weekend
I remember the first time traveling through here. It was the summer of 1967, I was 4, and utterly terrified because of all the switchbacks and steep roads. The scenery is spectacular, but the road is one where the drivers have to be especially careful. There have been quite a number of severe injuries and fatalities over the years. It's especially nerve-wracking in winter, with cars sharing the roadway with long-haul truckers (there are runaway lanes at some points in case truckers' brakes ever fail).
This photo is from the article in tonight's CBC.ca newsletter. It explains that this route is going to be closed to all but local traffic for several days so highway crews can work on the reconstruction without having to worry about other traffic getting in the way. The article says that the necessary detours can add up to 90 minutes' extra travel time (decades ago before the Coquihalla Highway offered a shorter route through the mountains, it took 8-9 hours to get from Red Deer to Vernon, where we'd spend summer holidays either at my aunt and uncle's home or at the cabin on Okanagan Lake just over the mountain).
Trans-Canada Highway east of Golden to close for 5 days after Easter weekend
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