British Columbia Highway 97

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Highway 97
Highway 97 highlighted in red.
Route information
Maintained by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure
Length	2,081 km (1,293 mi)
Existed	1953–present
Component highways	(1) Okanagan Highway between Osoyoos and Vernon (2) Vernon-Monte Creek Highway between Vernon and Monte Creek (3) Cariboo Highway between Cache Creek and Prince George (4) John Hart Highway between Prince George and Dawson Creek (5) Alaska Highway between Dawson Creek and Watson Lake, Yukon
Major junctions
South end	US 97 at the Canada–United States border near Osoyoos
Major intersections	Highway 3 in Osoyoos Highway 33 in Kelowna Highway 6 in Vernon Highway 1 (TCH) in Monte Creek Highway 5 (YH) in Kamloops Highway 99 near Cache Creek Highway 24 in 93 Mile House Highway 16 (TCH) in Prince George Highway 2 in Dawson Creek Highway 77 near Fort Nelson
North end	Hwy 1 at the Yukon border
Location
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Regional districts	Summerland, Peachland, Lake Country, 100 Mile House, Chetwynd, Taylor
Highway system
British Columbia provincial highways
← Highway 95A → Highway 97A

Highway 97 is a major highway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the longest continuously numbered route in the province, running 2,081 km (1,293 mi) and is the only route that runs the entire north–south length of British Columbia, connecting the Canada–United States border near Osoyoos in the south to the British Columbia–Yukon boundary in the north at Watson Lake, Yukon.

The highway connects several major cities in BC Interior, including Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George, and Dawson Creek. Within and near these cities, Highway 97 varies from a two-lane highway to a freeway with as many as six lanes. Some remote sections also remain unpaved and gravelled. The route takes its number from U.S. Route 97, with which it connects at the international border. The highway was initially designated '97' in 1953.

The busiest section of Highway 97 is in West Kelowna, carrying almost 70,000 vehicles per day. Some sections in the northern regions of the province have as few as 250 vehicles per day.^[1][2]

Crossing Okanagan Lake via the William R. Bennett Bridge in Kelowna.

Okanagan Highway passing through Lake Country, between Kelowna and Vernon.

The Okanagan Highway is a 189 km (117 mi) section of Highway 97 between the international border and the junction of Highway 97A north of Vernon. It is named for the Okanagan region of British Columbia, through which it largely passes. It begins in the south at the international border crossing north of Oroville, and travels 4 km (2.5 mi) north to its junction with the Crowsnest Highway (Highway 3) at Osoyoos. The highway travels north for 47 km (29 mi), passing through the Testalinden Creek Landslide and the communities of Oliver and Okanagan Falls. From Okanagan Falls, Highway 97 runs near the western shore of Skaha Lake before arriving at the locality of Kaleden, where Highway 3A diverges west.

13 km (8 mi) north of Kaleden, Highway 97 arrives at the city of Penticton. North of Penticton, Highway 97 follows the western shore of Okanagan Lake for 45 km (28 mi), through the communities of Summerland and Peachland, before reaching its junction with Highway 97C just south of Westbank. From there, Highway 97 passes through West Kelowna and reserve lands belonging to the Westbank First Nation until, 15 km (9 mi) northeast of the 97C junction, Highway 97 begins to cross Okanagan Lake via the William R. Bennett Bridge. The highway enters the city of Kelowna upon landfall on the east shore of the lake. 6 km (4 mi) east into the city centre, the highway reaches its junction with Highway 33. As the Okanagan is a very popular travel destination and also has the highest population in inland B.C. (about 300,000), this section of highway 97 is by far the busiest. Congestion is frequent - particularly near the William Bennett Bridge, and Southbound towards West Kelowna.

Four kilometres (21⁄2 mi) north of the Highway 33 junction, Highway 97 leaves the urbanized area of Kelowna (the municipal boundary is actually a further 12 km, 7 mi, north). For the next 43 km (27 mi), the route travels well east of Okanagan Lake, passing through the community of Winfield. Prior to 2013, the highway ran alongside the west shore of Wood Lake to Oyama. A new 9 km (6 mi) section of four-lane highway was constructed and opened to traffic at that time, which bypasses Oyama entirely to the north. The original section of the highway skirting the western shore of Wood Lake is now known as Pelmewash Parkway. Both Oyama and Winfield lie within the municipality of Lake Country.

Highway 97 then passes along the west shore of Kalamalka Lake before entering the city of Vernon and a junction with Highway 6 just south of the city centre. The highway then travels north for 10 km (6 mi) to a junction with Highway 97A near Swan Lake.

Highway 97 continues northwest from Highway 97A for 81 km (50 mi), past the town of Falkland, before it merges onto the Trans-Canada Highway at Monte Creek, and is known as the Vernon-Monte Creek Highway. The highway follows Highway 1 for 105 km (65 mi) west to Cache Creek. As it travels westward, Highways 1 and 97 parallel the Thompson River, passing through the city of Kamloops, where the route shares a 12 km (7 mi) wrong-way concurrency with Highway 5 (signed as 97 North and 5 South and vice versa) and intersects Highway 5A.

The Cariboo Highway section of Highway 97, between Cache Creek and Prince George, is 441 km (274 mi) in length and named for the Cariboo region, through which it travels. Much of its length as far as Quesnel follows approximately the route of the original Cariboo Wagon Road, which was also known as the Queen's Highway. The Cariboo Wagon Road's lower stretches between Yale and Cache Creek were severed in many places by the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s. That section, now part of the Trans-Canada, was rebuilt in the 1920s, when the name Cariboo Highway was first applied to the route, a designation which ran from Yale to Prince George, British Columbia (where portions of the route survive as the Old Cariboo Highway). Today the Cariboo Highway designation begins at Cache Creek, veering north for 11 km (7 mi) to its junction with Highway 99. North of Highway 99, Highway 97 travels 92 km (57 mi) through Clinton, where the British Columbia Railway begins to roughly parallel Highway 97, as well as through the community of 70 Mile House before reaching a junction at 93 Mile House with Highway 24 (the Interlakes Highway). The roughly 30 km (19 mi) section of highway between 70 Mile House and Highway 24 has been re-routed to a new expressway with a speed limit of 110km/h.

Over the 100 km (62 mi) of road north of Highway 24, Highway 97 travels through 100 Mile House and 150 Mile House before reaching the city of Williams Lake and a junction with Highway 20, which runs west across the Chilcotin District to Bella Coola on the Central Coast. Over the next 120 km (75 mi) continuing generally northward, the highway passes through McLeese Lake and Marguerite. En route, Highway 97 follows the east bank of the Fraser River to the city of Quesnel, and a junction with Highway 26. Over the next 115 km (71 mi) north of Quesnel, after passing through the hamlets of Strathnaver, Hixon, Stoner and Red Rock, Highway 97 meets its junction with Highway 16 at Prince George. North of here, the highway veers away from the Fraser River, and the British Columbia Railway veers northwestward from it.

The term Cariboo Highway originally applied to the reconstructed route from Hope through the Fraser Canyon to Cache Creek and Prince George. Constructed in 1924-25, the new gravel toll highway opened in 1926, giving road access to canyon communities cut off since the destruction of parts of the Cariboo Road by construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s. The Cariboo Highway designation for the Fraser Canyon portion of the route was supplanted with the completion and naming of the Trans-Canada Highway c.-1962. Portions of the old highway survive as local streets, some carrying the name Old Cariboo Highway (as in Prince George).

This 405 km-long (252 mi) stretch of Highway 97, named for former British Columbia Premier John Hart, begins at the John Hart Bridge crossing the Nechako River in Prince George, travelling for 152 km (94 mi) north through the small hamlet of Summit Lake, which is situated at the Continental Divide, as well as through Crooked River Provincial Park, Bear Lake and McLeod Lake, to its intersection with Highway 39. It then journeys northeast another 150 km (93 mi) over the crest of the Rocky Mountains via the Pine Pass, at which point the time zone changes from Pacific Time to Mountain Time. After descending from the Pine Pass, the highway generally follows the Pine River northeast to its intersection with Highway 29 at the town of Chetwynd. After a trek of another 97 km (60 mi) east, the Hart Highway terminates at Dawson Creek.

This northernmost section of Highway 97 is 965 km (600 mi) long, and travels north through largely unpopulated wilderness, intersecting the communities of Fort St. John and Fort Nelson, the latter being just east of the junction of Highway 77, travelling north to the Northwest Territories. Here, the highway veers generally northwestward into wilderness spotted with tiny localities. As it passes over the Rocky Mountains, the highway parallels the Liard River before terminating just over the BC/Yukon boundary at Watson Lake, where the Alaska Highway is numbered as Yukon Highway 1.

From south to north: ^[4][5]

Regional District	Location	km[6]	mi	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Okanagan-Similkameen	​	0.00	0.00		US 97 south – Oroville, Wenatchee	Continues into Washington; Okanagan Highway south end
				49th parallel at Oroville-Osoyoos Border Crossing
	Osoyoos	4.50	2.80		Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) – Grand Forks, Castlegar, Hope, Vancouver	Former south end of Highway 3A concurrency.
	Oliver	24.53	15.24		Fairview Road – Mount Baldy Ski Area
	​	51.67	32.11		Highway 3A west – Keremeos, Vancouver	Former north end of Hwy 3A concurrency.
	Penticton	60.41	37.54		Skaha Lake Road – City Centre
		63.35	39.36		Fairview Road, Green Mountain Road – Apex Mountain Resort
		65.19	40.51		Eckhardt Avenue – City Centre, Naramata
	Summerland	80.98	50.32		Rosedale Avenue – Town Centre
Central Okanagan	Peachland	101.81	63.26		Princeton Avenue, Beach Avenue – Town Centre
		103.91	64.57		Ponderossa Drive, 13th Street – Town Centre
	Peachland–West Kelowna boundary	109.01	67.74		Highway 97C west (Okanagan Connector) – Merritt, Kamloops, Vancouver	Drought Hill interchange
	West Kelowna	111.14	69.06		Glenrosa Road	Glenrosa Road interchange
		112.48– 113.83	69.89– 70.73	One-way pair through Westbank
		119.81	74.45		Hudson Road, Westside Road	Westside Road interchange
		124.33	77.26		Campbell Road	Campbell Road interchange
Okanagan Lake		124.74– 125.81	77.51– 78.17	William R. Bennett Bridge
Central Okanagan	Kelowna	126.32	78.49		Abbot Street
		126.56	78.64	South end of HOV lanes[7]
					Pandosy Street, Water Street
		129.58	80.52		Spall Road
		132.36	82.24		Highway 33 south – Big White Ski Resort, Rock Creek
		137.09	85.18		Edwards Road
				North end of HOV lanes[7]
		138.19	85.87		John Hindle Drive – UBC Okanagan	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		139.08	86.42		University Way – UBC Okanagan	No northbound exit
		140.31	87.18		Airport Way – Kelowna International Airport	Interchange proposed (no timeline)[8]
	Lake Country	148.29	92.14		Beaver Lake Road, Glenmore Road
		152.67	94.86		Pelmewash Parkway	Wood Lake interchange Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		160.51	99.74		Pelmewash Parkway, Gatzke Road	Gatzke Road interchange
North Okanagan	Vernon	179.34	111.44		25th Avenue (Highway 6 east) – Lumby, Nelson
		181.44	112.74		48th Avenue – Silver Star Mountain Resort
		183.02	113.72		27th Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Spallumcheen	188.97	117.42		Highway 97A north – Salmon Arm, Sicamous	Swan Lake interchange Hwy 97 branches west; Okanagan Highway north end; Vernon-Monte Creek Highway south end
Columbia-Shuswap	​	207.65	129.03		Salmon River Road (Highway 922:1126 north)
Thompson-Nicola	Monte Creek	269.71	167.59	399	Highway 1 (TCH) east – Salmon Arm	Monte Creek interchange East end of Hwy 1 concurrency; Vernon-Monte Creek Highway north end; exit numbers follow Hwy 1
	​	271.74	168.85	396[i] 397[ii]	Hook Road	Hook Road interchange
	Kamloops	278.29	172.92	390[i] 391[ii]	Lafarge Road	Tumbleweed interchange
		281.98	175.21	386[i] 388[ii]	Kokanee Way	Kokanee Way interchange
		286.65	178.12	384	Kipp Road, Dallas Drive, Barnhartvale Road	Nina Place/Kipp Road interchange Westbound exit and entrance
		287.05	178.36	384	Kipp Road, Dallas Drive, Barnhartvale Road	Eastbound right-in/right-out
		Gap in freeway; 6 signalized intersections
		295.26	183.47	375	Battle Street – City Centre	Valleyview interchange No eastbound exit
		295.71	183.75	374	Highway 5 (YH) north – Sun Peaks, Jasper	Yellowhead interchange East end of Hwy 5 concurrency
		299.20	185.91	370	Summit Drive – City Centre	Springhill interchange Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		300.13	186.49	369	Columbia Street – City Centre	Sagebrush interchange Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		301.08	187.08	368	Highway 5A south / Hillside Way – Merritt	Sagebrush interchange
		301.87	187.57	367	Pacific Way	Pacific Way interchange
		303.55	188.62	366	Copperhead Drive, Lac le Jeune Road	Copperhead interchange
		307.78	191.25	362	Highway 5 (YH) south (Coquihalla Highway) to Highway 97D / Highway 97C – Logan Lake, Merritt, Kelowna, Hope, Vancouver	Afton interchange West end of Hwy 5 concurrency; Hwy 1 / Hwy 97 exits freeway
	Savona	343.74	213.59	Savona Bridge (Kamloops Lake Bridge) across Thompson River
	Cache Creek	379.77	235.98		Highway 1 (TCH) west / Highway 97C south – Hope, Vancouver	West end of Hwy 1 concurrency; Hwy 97 branches north; Cariboo Highway south end
	​	390.79	242.83		Highway 99 south – Lillooet, Pemberton	Scenic route to Vancouver
Cariboo	​	483.10	300.18		Highway 24 east – Lone Butte, Bridge Lake, Little Fort
	100 Mile House	491.57	305.45		Horse Lake Road (Highway 924:1290 east)
		494.80	307.45		Canim Hendrix Lake Road (Highway 927:1142 north) – Forest Grove, Canim Lake, Hendrix Lake
	150 Mile House	568.44	353.21		Likely Road (Highway 928:1143 north)
	Williams Lake	582.63	362.03		Highway 20 west / Oliver Street – City Centre, Alexis Creek, Bella Coola
	Quesnel	699.43	434.61		Northstar Road	Northstar Road interchange
		700.22	435.10	Quesnel River Bridge across Quesnel River
		701.25	435.74		Carson Avenue, Moffat Approach – Nazko
		706.93	439.27		Highway 26 east – Wells, Barkerville
Fraser-Fort George	​	809.32	502.89		Old Cariboo Highway (Highway 941:1156 north) to Highway 16 (TCH) – Airport, McBride, Jasper	Former Hwy 97A
	Prince George	814.84	506.32		Boundary Road	Proposed Hwy 16 bypass[9]
		700.22	435.10	Simon Fraser Bridge across Fraser River
		819.72	509.35		Queensway, Ferry Avenue	Grade separated
		821.04	510.17		Highway 16 (TCH/YH) – Terrace, Prince Rupert, Jasper, Edmonton
		821.74	510.61		Massey Drive, Pine Centre Road	Massey Drive interchange
		823.00	511.39		15th Avenue
		824.14	512.10		5th Avenue
		824.77	512.49	John Hart Bridge across Nechako River; Cariboo Highway north end; John Hart Highway south end
		825.32	512.83		North Nechako Road	North Nechako Road interchange
	​	977.42	607.34		Highway 39 north – Mackenzie
Fraser-Fort George– Peace River district line	​	1,015.72	631.14	Pine Pass – el. 933 m (3,061 ft)
Peace River	Chetwynd	1,125.54	699.38		Highway 29 north – Hudson's Hope, Fort St. John	South end of Hwy 29 concurrency
	​	1,128.46	701.19		Highway 29 south – Tumbler Ridge	North end of Hwy 29 concurrency
		1,205.75	749.22		Highway 52 south – Tumbler Ridge
	Dawson Creek	1,225.37	761.41		Highway 2 east to Highway 49 – City Centre, Grande Prairie, Edmonton	John Hart Highway north end; Alaska Highway south end
	​	1,257.17	781.17	Kiskatinaw Bridge across Kiskatinaw River
	Taylor	1,278.47– 1,279.20	794.40– 794.86	Taylor Bridge across Peace River
	Fort St. John	1,297.04	805.94		100th Street – Cecil Lake, Fairview	Connects to unofficial Hwy 103
	​	1,309.56	813.72		Highway 29 south – Hudson's Hope, Chetwynd
Northern Rockies	Fort Nelson	1,676.71– 1,678.85	1,041.86– 1,043.19	Passes through Fort Nelson
	​	1,706.52	1,060.38		Highway 77 north (Liard Highway) – Fort Liard, Fort Simpson
		1,819.57	1,130.63	Summit Pass – 1,267 m (4,157 ft)
		1,985.48	1,233.72	Liard River Bridge across Liard River
		2,045.67	1,271.12	Coal River Bridge across Coal River
Unorganized	​	2,128.1– 2,129.3	1,322.3– 1,323.1	1.2 km (0.7 mi) section in Yukon (Remains as BC 97)[10]
		2,132.0– 2,140.4	1,324.8– 1,330.0	8.4 km (5.2 mi) section in Yukon (Remains as BC 97)[10]
		2,142.2– 2,144.6	1,331.1– 1,332.6	2.4 km (1.5 mi) section in Yukon (Remains as BC 97)[10]
Unorganized (Stikine Region)	​	2,159.23	1,341.68	Hyland River Bridge across Hyland River
		2,189.47	1,360.47		Hwy 1 (Alaska Highway) – Watson Lake, Whitehorse	60th parallel; Continues into Yukon
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       HOV only       Incomplete access       Route transition

• Official Numbered Routes in British Columbia by British Columbia Driving & Transportation
• Old Cariboo Highway, U.Wash Digital Collections