I've frequently driven this stretch since 1985. Had a few close calls, and a lot of reckless tailgaters through the tight turns. Now that this pass has been straightened and widened, I no longer get the same stress and anxiety. This video is a great "before and after" example of the improvements. Thanks for posting!
Gonna miss the old road. Obviously the new one is better in every way and safety is absolutely paramount. But taking my old Mazda Mx-3 with the 1.8L V6 out there in the middle of the night was such a blast. I saw about 8 vehicles from Banff to golden. Reckon it was about 12-2 am, in October 2020. That was probably the most entertaining and challenging stretch of road I’ve ever driven in my life. Enough being selfish though, it’s great the highway has been twinned. Used to drive 5 ton trucks in Calgary and I can’t imagine how sketchy it was for 18 wheelers. Those guys are the heartbeat of Canada, so if it makes their job safer and easier, I’m all for it.
I’m gonna miss driving this section with all the switch backs coming into golden from the east I always loved driving this part and being able to stop and look down over cliff side too
I remember driving through the Kicking Horse Canyon from Calgary to Vancouver as a Kid with my dad back in the 70's. When I was really little it used to scare the crap out of me. When I got older in my twenties I loved driving this stretch. The original highway that ran next to the river at the bottom of the canyon combined with the twists and hairpin turns at the higher elevations made for a very cool drive. I drove along the highway last August but I have not traveled it this year since its completion. It is truly a marvel of modern highway construction.
Been driving this stretch since 1999 and the new road is lovely. Once took my parents this (old) path and it freaked them out. Watch out for the mountain goats! 😂
Passed through many times in the 80's and 90's trucking coast to coast , it was always a spot that could catch you off guard pretty quick if you weren't on the ball.
My mom used to drive us out to Penticton every summer to visit her sisters and our cousins. First trip was in a 59 Plymouth. Later she drove a 63 Plymouth with a slant 6 and three on the tree. Most people now days wouldn’t know how to drove those cars. The road from Lake Louis to Golden was always a wild ride, us kids loved it.
One of best video to date. Just showed the wife what it was like when i drove in the 80's and 90's. Now when we to visit the grand kids in Kelowna .so much faster especially in the car over the tri axle . lol thanks again.
A great comparison of the old and new. In the 1970's I drove army trucks and a Kenworth cabover through that stretch a few times. I would not have recognized it without your great video. Thanks for posting!
It’s a fact that every time safety is taken up a level either by road builders or vehicle manufacturers drivers simply negate any gains by driving faster or doing even more dangerous things behind the wheel. In BC our roads are constantly being improved and there are more modern vehicles than ever on the road yet this July 2024 was the deadliest month ever on our highways with 51 deaths.
Most people will never be able to appreciate the feat of engineering this is. I recall driving through when the construction was happening and you could see what they were going to do, but it was the "how they were doing it" that was truly mind blowing. It was a little rough going through after it was mostly completed, but they were still fine tuning everything.
Just drove there two weeks ago, and, indeed, it felt somehow less adventurous than before (I guess my last drive was around 2013, but this time Yellowhead, my usual route from Edmonton to Vancouver, was closed). But my very first Kicking Horse drive was in 2002, where somehow I thought that Pentincton will be a couple of hours past Lake Louise, 'just on the other side of mountains). So we started with a friend from Calgary around 4pm, in late October, and were hit by snow blizzard in already darkness just near Field. And then it was hours of blizzard with only red lights from a car in front, and turns after turns on snowy road ... Made it to Pentincton well past midnight
My dad used to drive this section when I was a little kid. It used to scare the living daylights out of you as when you looked out the passenger window, you were looking straight down thousands of feet. It is no where near as bad as it used to be. Back in the 1960’s s lot of pro drivers quit after driving it once.
I drove this hwy in a whiteout in 1986. I stayed way too close to a semi truck in front of me at 1-2 ft. I was afraid that I’d drive off a cliff if I lost the semi. I think there were sections that didn’t the dividers on cliff side. I might’ve been wrong about it. I was leading a friend’s car. I finally found a pullout, she was so angry at me leaving her behind. I had followed semi, it wasn’t fast, maybe 20-30 mph also. She’d used up her windshield washer. I couldn’t see her at all,. That must’ve been scary. Unfortunately for her I was already scared from driving that highway. Her upset and fear were number 2 on my list.
The old highway was a blast on my motorbike. Dropping down the steep road to the canyon floor. That was back in the early 80s when it had turns much sharper than the video here shows. But it was a pain in the rear when you got behind some slow traffic. We drove the new one 2 months ago. Not nearly as much fun.
Im quite familiar with that place. I have to tell you, ive driven through their in the winter, at night, in a snow storm(forced to by circumstances) several times...the 'pucker factor' is real...
It was a adventurous highway at one time,Curves and lots of them and it gave you the sense that one wrong move and your on the railway track down below. Safer?...sure. Quicker?....a little. Boring?.....yes
Just drove this stretch for the first time when going from Calgary to Princeton, it's a great drive; glad I never drove the old one and always flew over it when going from Vancouver to Calgary.
great video. I've been through here many times in my life, not for a few years now so this is all new. It would have been cool to see both years on a split screen to get the most out of the difference. Great Job guys.
I grew up in Golden in the 1960’s, this road was not even close to the video of 2017. There were not too many accidents because it scared drivers and they drove appropriately. The accidents on this highway in the past few years are insane, these idiot drivers need to slow down…..which won’t happen unfortunately. Definitely need more enforcement and stiffer fines and Alberta drivers must be forced to pay the fines they receive, which they aren’t now!!!
Thats the opposite experience of what I mostly see with redplates. Usually its some redplate who wants to do 40 under the limit and not pull over while actively trying to prevent being passed. Maybe on the rare straight stretch I see them speeding but that's only to stop people from passing them so they can feel powerful as they drop everyone back to 40 under again.
Highway 1 needs to be four lanes the whole way. It's slowly getting better but there's so much more to do. This project was particularly impressive though!
I’ve driven along this highway throughout my adult life. So I’ve seen its evolution from the narrow, twisting and most dangerous highway, in my experience, to what it is today.
Just a shame that the highway around Revelstoke has been forgotten by the MOTI's Kamloops to Alberta Program. This Century less than 5 km of provincial Highway 1 out of the 40 km east and 40 km west of Revelstoke has been 4 laned (not including the federal sections in the National Parks that have been similarly neglected). This still leaves over 50 km of two lane and 15 km of three lane to be upgraded.
Drove that stretch many times in all kinds of weather. Brother in law was with RCMP in Golden in 70's, out there once, twice a week, sometimes more, with accidents. I liked that piece of road, but, you had to respect it. That road was quite a feat to build in its day, quite a job to accomplish what they did to it, these days. Still have the Sicamous- Salmon Arm run for fun, and the Fraser Canyon, at least for a while yet.
Huge improvement. Hated that stretch of road. Westbound and there were hikers returning to their parked cars. They had an off leash dog that ran into the middle of the road. I slowed down. Of course some Alberta license plate idiot feels they need to speed up and pass on a double solid line. Smucks the dog. Stops, then takes off again. Call it the QE2 entitlement. Now there’s people on the road trying to help the mortally injured dog. I put my flashers on and backed up so drivers would be warned before they rounded the curve. Did it help? No. I gave it five minutes and then drove on. People and the dog still on the road. Stupid is as stupid does.
As a motorcyclist, I am really going to miss those curves, it was one of the highlights of driving that road. It is an improvement, but you are still going to have people loading up themselves, their luggage and other crap, into an underpowered car (because they want to save on fuel) and try to pass other slower moving vehicles and overtaking that vehicle at about 1 kilometre per house, meaning they will still successfully block the lanes and slow everything down. 😂
They did this in the wrong order. All this currently does is funnel an increased number of redplates further down the number 1 so they can be in even harder to pass long lines than before. The border section should have been done last after the 4 laning was complete from Kamloops to Golden.
Very cool video. Any chance you could create one with the dives side by side? I apologize if this has been asked and answered, I did not every comment.
Id love to see a drive on the original road before phase 1 started. This new highway is quite lame to drive but especially in the winter I prefer that over some twisted roads with impatient drivers behind and 100m drop next to me.
If people knew how high they were above the valley below, they would be scared ‘sugarless’ Just waiting for the news report about how a (insert vehicle here) fell 600’ off the road into the valley below starting a uncontainable fire 🌲 🔥 I much preferred the original I’ve driven it as both a 4 wheeler, and as CDL with 52’ trailer on sleeper tractor
Isn’t a “hairpin” corner not a “sharp turn” but shaped like a hairpin, turning 180 degrees back on itself? Anyhoo - the whole concept of hurtling past each other in opposite directions a couple meters or less apart with machines weighing 1.5 to 64 tonnes while looking down at device screens is kinda weird when you think about it… Signed, a motorcycle rider :)
Now we just need BC to build proper large sized rest areas like Montana with proper washroom facilities and attendant to keep tent dwellers away, I'd happily pay more taxes for that😢the ones they have now are a f@#$%^&* disgrace!!!!
One by one BC's toughest roads get reworked for more safety. (You ever see how Highway 99 to Whistler used to be? Yikes. Highway of horrors.) However, there is still always going to be those people who do not grasp how you drive properly and get themselves killed. Some dinks always wanna pass unsafely and on double solid lines, etc., but even if they try to eliminate those narrow sections as much as possible, people will speed, sometimes beyond their or their vehicles' capabilities. Respect the mountains, people.
I was not driving in the 2017 video. That video is courtesy of a coworker. But you are right some of the corners you were driving over the double solid line just to make sure your trailer didn't hit the ditch.
Yes, when they built this 1950s they forget the trade and trucking get bigger.the population change a lots western canada last 50 years.the problems is design and where move dirt and rock.the money was well spend and overdue.thank you update.😊
@@allaboutthedrive3826 A pass is defined as the height of land separating two watersheds. Kicking Horse Pass separates the Columbia drainage from the Bow/ Saskatchewan drainage. The "pass" is 45 km east of where you filmed your video. 😊 Kicking Horse canyon is it's own distinct geological phenomenon...😊
@buckcorrigan9595 Agreed. That puts the Kicking Horse Pass east of West Louise at the Ab/BC border since the continental divide is also the highest point between those watersheds.
Kicking Horse Pass is the section of Hwy 1(Trans Canada Hwy) Between Golden BC and the BC/Alberta Border. The section in this video is within the first 5 km heading east on Hwy 1 ( Trans Canada Hwy) out of Golden BC
I drove it Dec 23, 2019 I thought I was gonna die. I'm now retired and now they fix it. I Lived South of Calgary and was on call for a cable outage in Golden. I saw well over a hundred cars in ditches and flipped over. Here is my dash cam of that trip. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1DgwHMnggyg.htmlsi=v4kHBjKO4ZxsxSBA
Gawd you are always guaranteed to get behind in albertan. Albertans can't drive curves. You could almost hear them screaming that the whole family was going to die as they navigated these roads
They took the ''funest'' part of the whole TransCanada #1 Highway (and I know because I've driven the whole length, New Brunswick to B.C. ) and ruined with all of these "improvements" I loved the challenge of driving that stretch at night in winter, ugh, boring!. Also at 4:20 you can't lower something up
I welcome your feedback, but please, let’s keep this civil. I will look into your suggested roadway, but I don’t think we can directly compare a small northern road with a heavily travelled portion of the TransCanada Highway. Instead of shutting up, let’s all talk more about the amazing, hair-raising, and thrilling roads we’ve experienced across North America (and beyond).
No one seems to want to enjoy the beautiful view while driving through the mountains anymore . They just want to get there faster 🫤 Although safer , it is far less scenic now . 🙁You don't even know you have crossed the pass if it weren't for the signs telling you so , if even those are still there ....
