Crowsnest Highway | |
|---|---|
| Highway 3 | |
 The Crowsnest Highway highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 1,161 km (721 mi) |
| Existed | 1932–present |
| Component highways | BC 3, AB 3 |
| Major junctions | |
| West end |  Hwy 1 (TCH) near Hope |
| East end |  Hwy 1 (TCH) in Medicine Hat |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Provinces | British Columbia, Alberta |
| Highway system | |
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| National Highway System | |
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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. Mostly two-lane, the 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 western-most 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, the 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. Many sections of the highway was built by Japanese labour while they were interned during the Second World War, including sections like the Hope-Princeton. This history has been preserved at a heritage marker at Sunshine Valley, which was the largest internment camp in Canada.