National Highway System (Canada)
| National Highway System | |
|---|---|
| System information | |
| Length: | 38,021 km (23,625 mi) |
| Formed: | 1988 |
| Highway names | |
| Interprovincial: |
Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) Yellowhead Highway Crowsnest Highway Alaska Highway Mackenzie Highway |
| Provincial: | Varies by province |
| System links | |
The National Highway System in Canada is a federal designation for a strategic transport network of highways and freeways. The system includes but is not limited to the Trans-Canada Highway, and currently consists of 38,021 kilometres (23,625 mi) of roadway designated under one of three classes: Core Routes, Feeder Routes, and Northern and Remote Routes.
The Government of Canada maintains very little power or authority over the maintenance or expansion of the system beyond sharing part of the cost of economically significant projects within the network. Highways within the system are not given any special signage, except where they are part of a Trans-Canada Highway route.
The system was first designated in 1988 by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety, a council consisting of the federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Transport. A total of 24,500 kilometres (15,200 mi) of highway were originally designated as part of the system. Highways selected for the system were existing primary routes that supported interprovincial and international trade and travel, by connecting major population or commercial centres with each other, with major border crossings on the Canada–United States border, or with other transport hubs.
The system was further expanded in 2004, with the addition of approximately 14,000 kilometres (8,700 mi) of highway that was not part of the original 1988 network. It was in this era that the current "core", "feeder" and "northern or remote" classes of route were established. Not all highways within the system are designated in their entirety, but may instead be part of the system over only part of their length; a few highways even have two or more discontinuous segments designated as part of the system. In some locations, the National Highway System may also incorporate city arterial streets to connect highway routes which are part of the system but do not directly interconnect, or to link the system to an important intermodal transport hub—such as a shipping port, a railway terminal, an airport or a ferry terminal—which is not directly located on a provincial-class highway.
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