British Columbia Highway 17

Highway 17
Patricia Bay Highway (Vancouver Island section) South Fraser Perimeter Road (Mainland section)
Highway 17 highlighted in red, upper left insert shows Highway 17 on Vancouver Island.
Route information
Length:	121 km (75 mi)
Existed:	1960 – present
Vancouver Island section
Length:	33 km (21 mi)
South end:	Victoria Harbour ferry terminal
Major junctions:	BC 1 in Victoria
North end:	Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal
Mainland section
Length:	44 km (27 mi)
West end:	Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal
Major junctions:	BC 17A in Delta BC 99 in Delta BC 91 in Delta (via connector)
East end:	BC 1 / BC 15 in Surrey
Location
Districts:	Saanich, Central Saanich, North Saanich, Delta
Major cities:	Victoria, Surrey
Highway system
British Columbia provincial highways ← BC 16 BC 17A →

British Columbia provincial highways

Highway 17 is a system of two separate highways: One on Vancouver Island, the other on the Lower Mainland, connected by a ferry link.

The Island section of Highway 17 is known as the Patricia Bay Highway (locally abbreviated as the Pat Bay Highway) after nearby Patricia Bay, and is the main artery through the Saanich Peninsula, mostly travelling along its eastern coast. The highway is four lanes all the way from Victoria to Swartz Bay. The total length of the highway on the Island is 32 kilometres (20 mi). Highway 17 has had its present course through the area since 1978 when the Blanshard extension was completed.

In the south, Highway 17 begins at the intersection of Belleville and Oswego streets, at the entrance to the Victoria Harbour ferry terminal, which provides a ferry connection to Port Angeles, WA. It travels east for 600 m (0.37 mi), past the grounds of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings, to Douglas Street where it intersects the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1). It travels another 700 m (0.43 mi) east, where the highway turns north as Blanshard Street (a six lane divided city street) for 3 km (1.9 mi) through the city of Victoria before leaving the city at Tolmie Avenue and for another 2 km (1.2 mi) north through the city of Saanich to the Uptown Shopping Centre; Highway 17 then becomes the Pat Bay Highway and turns into a 6 km (3.7 mi)-long freeway, with three interchanges. After the third interchange at Royal Oak Drive, Highway 17 turns into a 14 km (8.7 mi) mix of divided four-lane arterial and expressway including an interchange at McTavish Road, until it reaches the town of Sidney. After exiting Sidney 3 km (1.9 mi) later, the Pat Bay once again becomes a freeway, with two more interchanges along its length, toward its northern terminus at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal another 3 km (1.9 mi) north.