Last June, we asked you to Tell TranBC where you’d like to see future BC HighwayCams pointing around the province. We didn’t have to ask twice.
We received more than 730 survey responses, and continue to get them via Twitter and our other social media channels. Travellers all over B.C. have made DriveBC webcams one of the most popular resources for up to the minute road conditions.
There are five main factors the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure considers when choosing webcam locations; feedback from the driving public is an important one. After rolling up our sleeves and sorting through the responses, we quickly noticed a few trends. In fact, many of you agree on where future webcams should go. What’s more, plans are already in motion to install webcams in many of your suggested locations (marked as coming soon below).
Here are some of the most popular locations from the Tell TranBC survey:
Bridges
Bridges connect our communities and are vital links for our routine commutes, so it’s no wonder they attracted so much attention in the survey. Here’s a list of some bridges that were mentioned.
- Sicamous Narrow Bridge, Sicamous
- Nelson Bridge, Nelson
- Sheep Creek Bridge, near Williams Lake
- Port Mann Bridge, Burnaby/Langley
- Agassiz-Rosedale Bridge, Chilliwack [coming soon]
We also received requests for a webcam on the Knight Street Bridge connecting Vancouver and Richmond; however, it’s important to note this bridge falls under TransLink’s jurisdiction.
Ferries
It’s clear B.C. residents like using webcams to help schedule their sailings. Some ferry terminals mentioned include:
- Upper Arrow Lake, Galena Bay and Shelter Bay terminals near Revelstoke [We are working on solving communications challenges at Galena Bay, but Shelter Bay already has a webcam]
- Lower Arrow Lake, Needles cable ferry
- Port Hardy ferry terminal
- Duke Point ferry terminal
- Comox ferry terminal
Please keep in mind, BC Ferries takes care of installing their own webcams at Pacific ferry terminals such as Port Hardy, Duke Point and Comox. The ministry oversees webcams at inland ferry terminals.
Summits
Weather can change rapidly at higher elevations, so monitoring summits is a key function of BC HighwayCams. In fact, the program’s first webcam was installed at the south end of the Coquihalla Pass. Here are some good suggestions we received for placing more eyes in the skies:
- Nancy Greene Summit, between Rossland and Nancy Greene Lake
- Bombi Summit, between Salmo and Castlegar [coming soon]
- Rainbow Summit, near Prince Rupert
- Sunday Summit, between Hope and Princeton [coming soon]
- Jackass Mountain Summit, near Lytton [coming soon]
We also received a couple requests to place a webcam at the Pennask Summit between Merritt and Peachland. Great news: we already have one. Some other mountain pass webcams include Monashee, McDonald, Paulson, Kootenay, Eholt.
DriveBC will have expanded its coverage to more than 250 webcams when the last of the 30 new BC HighwayCams are installed this year. The more we know about travellers’ planning needs, the more strategic we can be about deciding future webcam locations. The survey results are sent to ministry regional directors as well as those folks maintaining our webcams and corresponding websites in order to help fuel BC HighwayCams expansion.
We actually just added a new webcam last week at the BC – Yukon border on Highway 37. And stay tuned, there’s a lot more to come.
Thank you to everyone who took our Tell TranBC survey. We’ll continue to keep the cameras rolling online to help keep you rolling on B.C. highways.
