The Trans-Canada Highway is perhaps the only physical link that connects Canadians from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It didn’t come about easily, and now it’s taken for granted. What makes it special? Mark Richardson is driving its 7,700 kilometres this month to find out.
• Part 1: Newfoundland • Part 2: The Maritimes • Part 3: Canada's connector • Part 4: Quebec and Ontario • Part 5: The Praries • Part 6: British Columbia • Part 7: Reflections from the TCH
TCH - NewfoundlandIllustration by Molly Margaret
Of moose, a monument and a devastated port town: Driving the Trans-Canada Highway in Newfoundland
There’s no sign to mark the easternmost point of the Trans-Canada Highway in Newfoundland. Downtown St. John’s used to have the Mile One Centre, an arena near where the original highway began at city hall, but it’s now called the Mary Brown’s Centre. Then there’s the Terry Fox monument, a beautiful, introspective statue of the inspirational runner. It’s at the spot beside the harbour where Fox dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean in 1980 and began his Marathon of Hope to fund cancer research, but he wasn’t near Canada’s national highway.
TCH - MaritimesMolly Margaret/The Globe and Mail
A bridge, a ferry and a dot-matrix printer: Driving the Trans-Canada Highway through the Maritimes
The Trans-Canada Highway follows two routes through the Maritimes. One travels across the southern part of Prince Edward Island and connects to the mainland by a long bridge to New Brunswick at one end and a ferry to Nova Scotia at the other. The second part, on the mainland, links Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and carries on all the way to British Columbia.
TCH - Full IllustrationMolly Margaret/The Globe and Mail
Canada’s national highway didn’t come easy – it took some daredevils and squabbling to make it happen
There are few physical symbols of our country’s unity greater than the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s more than 7,700 kilometres of asphalt that links every province to each other. Like Canada itself, it’s always beautiful, sometimes dramatic and occasionally tragic. It’s more than just a road – it’s Canada’s connector. Today, I hope to finally reach the western end of the highway in Victoria, after driving from St. John’s since early June. It has been a simple road trip. I didn’t even need a map. I just followed the signs for the Trans-Canada and headed toward the sunset.
The Globe and Mail
Construction, make-work projects and the bright side to the dark side: Driving the Trans-Canada Highway in Quebec and Ontario
Quebec seems to be the province of road works. There’s been major construction on the Trans-Canada Highway for more than two decades, on the section that runs between the St. Lawrence River and New Brunswick. This seems fitting. Quebec was the last province to sign on to the federal government’s dream of building the cross-country highway in 1960, and it was among the last to complete it.
Illustration by Molly MargaretMolly Margaret/The Globe and Mail
A peculiar town and remembering tragedy: Driving the Trans-Canada Highway through the Prairies
There’s a peculiar town in Saskatchewan named Ernfold. In fact, it’s barely a town, with a population of 18 people and many of its wooden buildings now decrepit and unsafe. It is unique, however, because it lies, quite literally, between the lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Globe and Mail
From transportation route to scenic road: Driving the Trans-Canada Highway through B.C.
Heading west through British Columbia, the Trans-Canada Highway seems to give up its aspiration as a national transportation route and settles on being a scenic tourist road. Or perhaps it evolves to this. Perhaps this is what the Trans-Canada should always have been.
TCH - Full IllustrationMolly Margaret/The Globe and Mail
‘A part of Canada’: Reflections from the Trans-Canada Highway – the drive that binds
There’s a monument beside the Trans-Canada Highway in British Columbia that marks where former prime minister John Diefenbaker tamped down some asphalt on Sept. 3, 1962, and declared the highway open.