Highway 99 is a provincial highway in British Columbia that runs from the Canada–United States border to near Cache Creek, serving Greater Vancouver and the Squamish–Lillooet corridor. It is a major north–south artery within British Columbia's largest city, Vancouver, and connects the city with several suburbs as well as the U.S. border, where it continues south to Seattle as Interstate 5. The central section of the highway, also known as the "Sea to Sky Highway", serves the communities of Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton. Highway 99 continues through Lillooet and ends at a junction with Highway 97 near Cache Creek.

The highway's number, assigned in 1940, was derived from former U.S. Route 99, the predecessor to Interstate 5 and a major route for the U.S. West Coast. Highway 99 originally comprised the King George Highway in Surrey, portions of Kingsway from New Westminster to Vancouver, and local streets. It was extended across the Lions Gate Bridge and to Horseshoe Bay in the 1950s along a new highway that would later be incorporated into Highway 1 (the Trans-Canada Highway), which has a concurrency with Highway 99 in West Vancouver.

Highway 99 was later moved to freeway sections in southern Surrey, Delta, and Richmond that opened beginning in the late 1950s. These sections, which included the George Massey Tunnel under the Fraser River, were numbered as Highway 499 until 1973. The highway's northern section was extended several times between 1959 and 1992 with the opening of routes beyond Whistler and Pemberton. For the 2010 Winter Olympics hosted by Vancouver and Whistler, the Sea to Sky Highway was rebuilt to increase safety and capacity—both of which had been longstanding issues with the highway as recreational and commercial traffic increased in the late 20th century. In 2006, The Guardian newspaper from the United Kingdom listed the Sea to Sky as the fifth best road trip worldwide.

Route description

South Surrey to Richmond

The southern terminus of Highway 99 is at the Peace Arch Border Crossing on the international border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington. It is a continuation of Interstate 5, a freeway that continues south towards Seattle, Portland, and San Diego on the West Coast of the United States, ultimately ending near Tijuana, Mexico. The highway passes the Peace Arch monument in the international park of the same name and travels north through a 24-hour customs facility operated by the Canada Border Services Agency in Douglas, part of southern Surrey on Boundary Bay. The freeway travels northwest with four lanes around the city of White Rock and through residential neighbourhoods in Surrey on the south side of the Nicomekl River. Beyond the river, Highway 99 gains a northbound bus lane on its shoulder and traverses farmland as it turns west along the shoreline of Boundary Bay.

The freeway follows Boundary Bay into the city of Delta and intersects Highway 91, which connects to New Westminster and provides an alternative route to Richmond. Highway 99 continues west through a junction with Ladner Trunk Road (formerly Highway 10) to reach an interchange with Highway 17, which travels to Tsawwassen, its major ferry terminal, and its freight hub. The freeway turns northwest and passes through a junction with Highway 17A before it enters the George Massey Tunnel, which travels under the South Arm of the Fraser River from Deas Island to Richmond. The tunnel has four lanes, of which one is able to reverse on a set schedule to provide a third lane in the peak direction of travel.

Within Richmond, Highway 99 travels north with six lanes and bus shoulders through an interchange with the Steveston Highway and a rural area. It then reaches a second junction with Highway 91 that bisects the Richmond Nature Park and includes ramps to Alderbridge Way and Knight Street. The freeway turns northwest and passes through a residential neighbourhood to reach an interchange with Sea Island Way, which provides a connection to Vancouver International Airport, Sea Island, and the Bridgeport transit hub. After crossing the Canada Line, Highway 99 crosses the Fraser River on the Oak Street Bridge, which carries four lanes into the City of Vancouver.

Vancouver

The freeway section of Highway 99 ends at an interchange with Marine Drive on the north end of the Oak Street Bridge in Vancouver's Marpole neighbourhood. Within Vancouver, the highway travels for on various city streets that are maintained by the city government and are also served by TransLink buses. The highway briefly travels north on Oak Street and turns west onto West 70th Avenue through several residential blocks. Highway 99 then turns north onto Granville Street, which it follows for through residential neighbourhoods and a commercial district near its junction with Broadway, which carries the westernmost section of Highway 7.

The highway travels onto the Granville Bridge, which carries eight lanes of traffic over False Creek and Granville Island into Downtown Vancouver. The bridge includes ramps on its south side to West 4th Avenue and other streets, as well as an interchange on its north side with loop ramps that connect to Pacific Boulevard and Pacific Street. Highway 99 passes over the University Canada West campus and splits into a pair of one-way streets: Seymour Street for northbound traffic and Howe Street for southbound traffic; the two streets are split by Granville Street, which continues as a transit mall for TransLink buses.

Seymour and Howe streets pass through residential and commercial areas in Downtown Vancouver, which include department stores, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Robson Square, the CF Pacific Centre, and several SkyTrain stations. Highway 99 turns west onto Georgia Street and returns to bi-directional traffic as it traverses the West End near Vancouver's central waterfront. The street carries four lanes for general purpose traffic and two lanes shared by buses and bicycles during daytime hours; beyond Pender Street, it gains a center reversible lane that is controlled with traffic signals. The highway then travels through Stanley Park with three lanes–one per direction and a centre reversible lane—and crosses the Lions Gate Bridge over the First Narrows as it leaves Vancouver.

West Vancouver and Sea to Sky Highway

The Lions Gate Bridge continues into West Vancouver and bisects X̱wemelch'stn, an Indian reserve managed by the Squamish Nation. Highway 99 briefly travels west onto Marine Drive after an interchange and crosses the Capilano River to the Park Royal Shopping Centre, where it turns north onto Taylor Way. The highway then passes through a residential neighbourhood and reaches an interchange with Highway 1, part of the Trans-Canada Highway. Highway 99 joins Highway 1 on the Upper Levels Highway, a four-lane freeway that travels west through residential neighbourhoods on the south side of Cypress Mountain. The freeway makes several gradual turns as it ascends the foothills of Cypress Mountain; Highway 1 splits from the highway to serve the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, a major hub for BC Ferries in Horseshoe Bay, as it continues onward to Vancouver Island.

The "Sea to Sky Highway" is the name given to the long section of Highway 99 from Horseshoe Bay to Pemberton, a province-designated scenic highway and tourist attraction. The Horseshoe Bay–Whistler section is also named the Sea to Sky Cultural Journey as part of a collaboration between the provincial government, the Squamish Nation, and Lilʼwat First Nation prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics. The highway has special paddle-shaped highway markers, bilingual signs with place names in the Squamish language (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), and seven information kiosks which are designed to represent Coast Salish woven cedar hats.

From Horseshoe Bay, the four-lane, divided highway travels along the eastern coast of Howe Sound and the foothills of the North Shore Mountains. Highway 99 follows the BC Rail mainline, which runs below along the coastline, and narrows to a two-lane, undivided highway at Tunnel Point north of Lions Bay; the point also marks the boundary between Greater Vancouver and the Squamish–Lillooet Regional District. The highway then continues north with occasional passing lanes and divided sections, as well as scenic viewpoints and rest areas, and later reverts to a limited access roadway as it descends into Britannia Beach, home to the Britannia Mine Museum.

Highway 99 travels northeast through Murrin Provincial Park as it ascends a hill to bypass Watts Point, an extinct volcanic centre on Howe Sound. The highway then descends along the coast towards Squamish at the head of Howe Sound. It passes a ferry terminal at Darrell Bay and the viewpoint for Shannon Falls, the third-highest waterfall in the province at . Highway 99 passes under Stawamus Chief, a large mountain immediately outside of Squamish, and travels through the city's residential neighbourhoods. It bypasses downtown to serve a commercial and industrial area on the north side of the city and briefly turns northeast to cross the Mamquam River. The highway continues north along the Squamish River through Cheakamus Canyon towards Whistler and then onward to Pemberton, where the "Sea to Sky Highway" designation ends. The corridor is also home to the Sea to Sky Trail, a multi-use trail for hiking and cycling that runs from Squamish to D'Arcy north of Pemberton.

Duffey Lake Road

Highway 99 continues on Duffey Lake Road from Pemberton to Lillooet. This section of road parallels several rivers and water bodies, including the Squamish River, the Cheakamus River, and Daisy Lake, which flow south toward Howe Sound. In Whistler, near Alta Lake, the road crosses a watershed, and north of this point, the road follows the Green River and Lillooet River which flow north and east toward Lillooet Lake, and ultimately towards the Fraser River. The speed limit of the Sea to Sky Highway ranges from , with sections in Lions Bay, Britannia Beach and parts of Squamish.

After passing Lillooet Lake, the highway climbs a steep grade to Joffre Lakes Provincial Park, and shortly after passes through Cayoosh Pass, the highest point on the highway at . East of the pass the road follows the course of Cayoosh Creek as it traverses the southern base of Mount Rohr and skirts Duffey Lake Provincial Park. As Duffey Lake Road, after winding almost northeast in very steep mountains where sometimes the advisory speed limit is , and is legally posted as throughout. Highway 99 reaches the junction with Highway 12 at Lillooet, and then goes northeast for another to its northern terminus at its junction with Highway 97 just north of Cache Creek and just south of Clinton.

History

King George Highway

The modern-day highways between the Peace Arch Border Crossing and New Westminster generally follow the Semiahmoo Trail, an overland route used by indigenous Coast Salish peoples that was later adopted by fur traders and early non-indigenous Fraser Valley settlers in the 1860s. The trail was replaced with a wagon road that was completed by the provincial government in 1879. The Pacific Highway was later built in the 1910s to connect Vancouver to Seattle and the rest of the U.S. West Coast and marked by the Peace Arch, a monument dedicated in 1921 to commemorate the Treaty of Ghent. The highway was later given number designations: U.S. Route 99 in Washington was created as part of the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926; and "Route R" in British Columbia was created in the 1930s.