Crowsnest Highway

Crowsnest Highway
Highway 3
The Crowsnest Highway highlighted in red
Route information
Length:	1,161 km (721 mi)
Existed:	1932 – present
British Columbia
Length:	838 km (521 mi)
West end:	BC 1 near Hope
Major junctions:	BC 5 near Hope BC 5A in Princeton BC 97 in Osoyoos BC 22 in Castlegar BC 6 at Salmo BC 95 at Yahk and Cranbrook BC 93 at Cranbrook and Elko
Alberta
Length:	323 km (201 mi)
Major junctions:	Hwy 22 near Lundbreck Hwy 6 near Pincher Creek Hwy 2 in Fort Macleod Hwy 23 near Monarch Hwy 5 in Lethbridge Hwy 4 in Lethbridge Hwy 36 in Taber
East end:	Hwy 1 (TCH) / Hwy 41A in Medicine Hat
Location
Municipalities:	Hope, Sparwood
Specialized and rural municipalities:	Crowsnest Pass, Pincher Creek No. 9 M.D., Willow Creek No. 26 M.D., Lethbridge County, Taber M.D., Forty Mile No. 8 County, Cypress County
Major cities:	Greenwood, Grand Forks, Castlegar, Cranbrook, Fernie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat
Towns:	Princeton, Osoyoos, Creston, Fort Macleod, Coalhurst, Coaldale, Taber, Bow Island
Villages:	Keremeos, Midway, Salmo, Cowley, Barnwell
Highway system
Provincial highways in Alberta ← BC 2 BC BC 3A → ← Hwy 2A AB Hwy 3A →

Provincial highways in Alberta

The Crowsnest Highway is an east-west highway in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. It stretches 1,161 km (721 mi) across the southern portions of both provinces, from Hope, British Columbia to Medicine Hat, Alberta, providing the shortest highway connection between the Lower Mainland and southeast Alberta through the Canadian Rockies. The mostly two-lane highway was officially designated in 1932, mainly following a mid-19th century gold rush trail originally traced out by an engineer named Edgar Dewdney. It takes its name from the Crowsnest Pass, the location at which the highway crosses the Continental Divide between British Columbia and Alberta.

In British Columbia, the highway is entirely in mountainous regions and is also known as the Southern Trans-Provincial Highway. The first segment between the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5A is locally known as the Hope-Princeton Highway, and passes by the site of the Hope Slide. In Alberta, terrain is initially mountainous, before smoothing to foothills and eventually generally flat prairie in the vicinity of Pincher Creek. The highway forms part of the Red Coat Trail and the CANAMEX Corridor from Highway 2 near Fort Macleod to Highway 4 in Lethbridge.