Highway 1 (Trans-Canada) Road Conditions in British Columbia

32 current reports along the route, including 2 full closures. The 8 most serious are listed below. Always check with DriveBC before setting off.

• Road closed

  Road work on Highway 1, Trans-Canada Highway

  Road construction. Starting Fri Jul 10 until Sat Oct 31. Closed. Traffic will be shifted to the north of the median around 256th St and and will cross over around Lefeuvre Rd. Existing eastbound lanes will be closed. This will remain in place 24/7.

  Trans-Canada Highway • Eastbound • BC • Until Oct 31, 2:00 PM Details

• Lanes blocked

  Incident (hazard) on Highway 1, Trans-Canada Highway SW

  Required maintenance from Highway 1, In Salmon Arm to 3 Street SW, In Salmon Arm. Until Tue Sep 22. Left turn lane closed. Centre lane closed. Last update: September 15th, 2026 at 8:01pm PDT. Next update: September 21st, 2026 at 7:00am PDT.

  Trans-Canada Highway SW • Eastbound • BC • Until Sep 23, 12:00 AM Details

• Lanes blocked

  Incident (hazard) on Highway 1, Trans-Canada Highway

  Washout from Highway 1 to Beaver Valley Rd. Right lane closed. Watch for traffic control. Expect delays. Speed Limit restriction: 50. Last update: September 15th, 2026 at 8:06pm PDT. Next update: October 2nd, 2026 at 12:00pm PDT. Emergency rehab work September 14-October 2. Left lane remains open on Beaver Hill.

  Trans-Canada Highway • Westbound • BC • Ongoing Details

• Lanes blocked

  Road work on Highway 1, Vedder River Bridge

  Paving operations from Highway 1, In Abbotsford and Vedder Canal Bridge to In Abbotsford and Sumas Way. Starting Sun Sep 13 until Thu Oct 1. From 7:00 PM to 6:00 AM PDT the next day, weekdays and Sunday. Reduced to one lane. Last update: September 11th, 2026 at 8:48pm PDT. All on and off ramps will also be paved during this time. Motorists are advised to obey all posted speed limits, traffic signs, and traffic control personnel.

  Vedder River Bridge • Westbound • BC • Until Oct 1, 1:00 PM Details

• Lanes blocked

  Road work on Highway 1, Trans-Canada Highway W

  Rock scaling from Highway 1. Starting Tue Sep 15 until Thu Sep 24. Right lane closed. Last update: September 15th, 2026 at 9:06pm MDT. Use caution when passing crew and equipment working.

  Trans-Canada Highway W • Eastbound • BC • Until Sep 25, 12:00 AM Details

• Restriction

  Incident (hazard) on Highway 1, Trans-Canada Highway W

  Washrooms closed at Highway 1, In Revelstoke and at Revelstoke Rest Area. Until Sat Oct 31. Watch for traffic control. Last update: September 15th, 2026 at 8:06pm PDT. The Revelstoke Rest Area will be closed due to highway upgrades in the area. Nearby rest areas remaining open: Illecillewaet Break check - Commercial and passenger, Rutherford rest area - Passenger, Shelter Bay rest area - Passenger and The Last Spike rest area - commercial and passenger.

  Trans-Canada Highway W • Both directions • BC • Until Oct 31, 11:00 PM Details

• Restriction

  Road work on Highway 1, Water Avenue Onramp

  Paving operations from Highway 1, In Hope and Exit 171: Old Hope-Princeton Highway to Exit 146. Starting Mon Aug 31 until Wed Sep 30. From 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM PDT, Monday to Saturday. Watch for traffic control. Last update: September 2nd, 2026 at 8:09am PDT. Watch for crews and equipment working. Speeds reduced to 60km/h through work zones. Detours will be in effect for off and on-ramp closures when night work takes place.

  Water Avenue Onramp • Westbound • BC • Until Oct 1, 1:00 AM Details

• Restriction

  Incident (hazard) on Highway 1, Old Ferry Rd to Des Fosses Rd

  Highway 1 (TransCanada Highway), in both directions. Watch for falling rocks between Old Ferry Rd and Des Fosses Rd for 44.1 km (14 km east of Chase to 7 km east of Kamloops). Last updated Thu Sep 10 at 12:31 AM PDT. (DBC-93918)

  Old Ferry Rd to Des Fosses Rd • Both directions • BC • Ongoing Details

Winter tire and chain requirements on Highway 1

Highway 1 is a designated winter tire and chain route. Winter tires are required on it every year from October 1 to April 30, whatever the forecast on the day: a legal winter tire in BC carries either the letters M and S (mud and snow, the legal minimum, which includes many all-season tires) or the three-peaked mountain and snowflake symbol, and has at least 3.5 mm of tread. The province notes that mountain-snowflake tires grip better on snow and ice. Passenger vehicles may add chains or other traction devices to their winter tires; chains alone are not a substitute for them.

Commercial vehicles between 5,000 and 11,794 kg licensed GVW must carry chains or traction devices, or run winter-rated tires; vehicles of 11,794 kg and over must carry steel chains on most major highways from October 1 to April 30 and install them where the chain-up signs say so. Not carrying chains where required is a $196 fine; driving past an active chain-up area is $598.

The full rule, the fines and the exceptions are on the British Columbia page. Source: gov.bc.ca, Tire and Chain Requirements, checked September 8, 2026. What is in force today — a chain-up, a closure — is on DriveBC ↗.

Segments and what to expect

Highway 1 is not one road in winter but eight, and the names below are the ones drivers and DriveBC use for them. The elevations are the province's own, from its cameras at the places named.

1. The Malahat: Victoria to Mill Bay to 352 m

   Two and three lanes over a 352 m summit, the only road link between Greater Victoria and the rest of the island. It closes for crashes rather than for snow, and when it does the alternatives are a ferry or a gravel road.

2. Vancouver to Hope

   The Fraser Valley freeway: flat, four to six lanes, and the last place to turn round before the mountains. Fog and black ice in the valley bottom in a cold snap; otherwise the easy part.

3. The Fraser Canyon: Hope to Cache Creek to 464 m

   Two lanes on the canyon wall past Boston Bar (285 m), Jackass Mountain (220 m), Lytton and Spences Bridge (248 m). Rockfall, washouts and the slides of November 2021 closed it for ten weeks; it is also the Coquihalla's detour, so it is at its busiest when the weather is at its worst.

4. Cache Creek to Kamloops 464 m → 469 m

   Dry Interior plateau along the Thompson: little snow, but the coldest air on the road sits here in January and the surface ices where the river fog reaches.

5. Kamloops to Sicamous 469 m → 370 m

   The Shuswap: lake-level road through Chase, Sorrento and Salmon Arm (347 m). Wet snow and slush rather than depth; four-laning in progress means shifting lanes and speed limits.

6. Eagle Pass: Sicamous to Revelstoke 370 m → 514 m

   Up the Eagle River (438 m) through Three Valley Gap (514 m), where the highway squeezes between the lake and the rock and the snow arrives before Revelstoke's. Avalanche control closes this stretch too, not only Rogers Pass.

7. Rogers Pass: Revelstoke to Golden 450 m → 1,330 m

   From Revelstoke (450 m) through Glacier National Park — the Jack McDonald Snowshed (910 m), the 1,330 m summit, 135 avalanche paths on 40 km of road and seven snowsheds — and down the Columbia to Golden (803 m). This is where Highway 1 closes for hours or days at a time.

8. Kicking Horse Canyon: Golden to the Alberta line 803 m → 1,627 m

   Up the Kicking Horse River through the rebuilt canyon (1,131 m at the camera) and Field (1,240 m) to Kicking Horse Pass at 1,627 m, the highest point on the Trans-Canada and the Continental Divide.

Passes and summits on Highway 1

The places on this road that are a different drive from the valleys either side: each has its own page with the summit readings, the six-day forecast and the rule in force there.

• Rogers Pass weather — 1,330 m
• Malahat weather — 352 m
• Kicking Horse Pass weather — 1,627 m

Closures that have shaped Highway 1

Not a log of every hour DriveBC has shut a lane — the events that say what kind of road this is, each with the source it comes from.

• 17 March 2026 – 20 March 2026

  Revelstoke to Golden closed at 2 p.m. on 17 March 2026 and did not reopen for good until 10 p.m. on 20 March: four days of avalanche control in Glacier National Park with the hazard rated extreme from the alpine to the valley floor, and a few hours of opening on some evenings. Source: Penticton Western News, 19 March 2026.

• 15 December 2025

  Parks Canada closed Revelstoke to Golden for the whole of 15 December 2025, from 3 a.m. to at least 11 p.m., for avalanche control after 50 cm of snow over the weekend. No detour. Source: The Northern View, 15 December 2025.

• 18 September 2023 – 6 October 2023

  The Kicking Horse Canyon east of Golden closed fully twice for construction, noon 18 to noon 22 September and noon 25 September to noon 6 October 2023, with all through traffic between Golden and Castle Junction sent round by Highways 95 and 93 through Radium — up to an hour and a half more. Source: e-KNOW, 11 September 2023.

• 16 November 2021 – 22 November 2021

  The Malahat closed overnight from 16 to 22 November 2021 to repair storm damage at Tunnel Hill, with single-lane alternating traffic by day; the province pointed drivers at the Brentwood Bay to Mill Bay ferry and the Pacific Marine route. Source: BC Gov News, 16 November 2021.

• 14 November 2021 – 24 January 2022

  The Fraser Canyon closed on 14 November 2021 with 18 damaged sites between Hope and Spences Bridge, four of them major. It reopened to all traffic at noon on 24 January 2022 over an 80 m temporary single-lane bridge at Jackass Mountain, with a pilot car through the avalanche zone and delays of two hours or more. Source: BC Gov News, 24 January 2022.

Alternate routes when Highway 1 is closed

• If the Fraser Canyon, Hope to Cache Creek is closed: Highway 5, the Coquihalla — about 1 h 30 min faster than the direct road when both are open, 205 km against 279 km. The freeway route to Kamloops. It is faster than the canyon in the first place, which is why the canyon only matters when the Coquihalla is the one that is shut.
• If the Kicking Horse Canyon and Kicking Horse Pass is closed: Highways 95 and 93 through Radium Hot Springs — about 1 h 55 min longer than the direct road when both are open, 227 km against 128 km. South down the Columbia valley to Radium, then over Sinclair Pass and Vermilion Pass in Kootenay National Park to Castle Junction on Highway 1 in Alberta. The province's own detour for the canyon closures.
• If Rogers Pass is closed: Highways 23, 6, 3 and 95 through the Kootenays — about 9 h 25 min longer than the direct road when both are open, 735 km against 148 km. There is no short way round Rogers Pass. This one runs south past Nakusp (with the Galena Bay ferry), through Nelson and Creston to Cranbrook and back north up the Columbia — most of a day, and the reason a Rogers Pass closure is usually waited out.

Distances and times are measured over openrouteservice on a clear road; a closure day is not one, because the detour carries the closed road's traffic too. What is closed right now is on DriveBC ↗.

Related roads

Highway 1 Winter Driving FAQ

How long is Highway 1 across British Columbia?

The signed route is 1,047 km from Victoria to the Alberta line at Kicking Horse Pass, of which the mainland from Horseshoe Bay is about 875 km measured along our line and the island from Victoria to Nanaimo about 115. The two are joined by a ferry, not a road, and this page measures them separately.

Which part of Highway 1 closes most in winter?

Rogers Pass, between Revelstoke and Golden. Parks Canada closes it for avalanche control for two to eight hours at a time and for days in a storm cycle — four days in March 2026 — and there is no detour short of a day's drive through the Kootenays. Eagle Pass west of Revelstoke and the Kicking Horse Canyon east of Golden close for the same reasons, less often.

Do I need winter tires on Highway 1 in BC?

Yes, east of Hope and on the Malahat: Highway 1 is a designated winter tire route, October 1 to April 30, and a passenger vehicle needs M+S or mountain-snowflake tires with at least 3.5 mm of tread. Through the Lower Mainland between Vancouver and Hope the rule does not apply. Commercial vehicles over 11,794 kg carry chains on the designated sections.

Is there a way round the Malahat?

Not by highway. When the Malahat is closed the choices are the Brentwood Bay to Mill Bay ferry, on a daytime timetable, or the Pacific Marine route through Port Renfrew, several hours longer and partly gravel. Most closures are for crashes and last hours, not days.

Is the Fraser Canyon faster than the Coquihalla?

No. Hope to Kamloops through the canyon is 279 km and about 3 h 30 min on a clear day against 205 km and about two hours on Highway 5, measured over openrouteservice. The canyon matters when the Coquihalla is shut, and on those days it carries both roads' traffic.