Coquihalla Highway - Highway Thru Hell, Discovery Channel

[roadtester]

Is anyone else on here a fan of the Discovery series Highway Thru Hell?

It's a reality/fly on the wall TV show following the fortunes of recovery drivers on the Coquihalla Highway (nicknamed the Coq, pronounced coke), which is a section of British Columbia Highway 5, according to Wikipedia.

There's a bit of roads interest - the sections of the highway featured seem to be pretty good quality dual carriageway, which considering the distances involved, the likely traffic flows and the difficulty of the terrain puts the ambition of British road builders to shame.

The main focus, though, is on big tough Canadian guys in massive powerful trucks pulling off spectacular rescues of huge mangled artics carrying unusual loads from awkward places.

There's also some spectacularly entertaining numpty overload driving in the snow, which means a lot of business for the recovery crews.

More here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_Thru_Hell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_C ... _Highway_5

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/h ... thru-hell/

[roadtester]

Sorry - should be National Geographic, not Discovery.

[WHBM]

The Coquihalla opened in 1986, for the prominent Expo86 in Vancouver, forming part of the Trans Canada Highway, and I drove along it in that first year. It was considered quite a coup for British Columbia Highways, and goes through what was previously absolutely virgin territory. The Expo itself had a large animated engineering model of a section of the road, showing the precautions against snow blocks, earthquakes, landslides, etc (the latter by no means a trivial point for the BC mountain highways.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Slide

[roadtester]

The Coquihalla opened in 1986, for the prominent Expo86 in Vancouver, forming part of the Trans Canada Highway, and I drove along it in that first year. It was considered quite a coup for British Columbia Highways, and goes through what was previously absolutely virgin territory. The Expo itself had a large animated engineering model of a section of the road, showing the precautions against snow blocks, earthquakes, landslides, etc (the latter by no means a trivial point for the BC mountain highways.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Slide

Thanks - I must admit the series had already whetted my appetite for a possible trip and now I'm more interested still. The engineering of the road looks very impressive but as the programme shows, it doesn't seem to be possible to proof entirely against extreme conditions and silly driving!

Anyway, I can sincerely recommend the series, although it's a bit of a geeky secret pleasure thing you wouldn't necessarily want to mention to your more sophisticated friends...

[Fenlander]

I've seen a few episodes of it, it's a bit like Ife Road Truckers but focussing on the road & recovery rather than the truckers.

[Gav]

I went to expo 86 first time abroad.... it was a good show indeed..

Been on the coke a few times and it was a toll road until recently. Its never been part of the trans canada that road has remained on its original alignment. The coke provides a short cut though and there is an interconnector built to link the okanagon area - it doesnt like direct to the coke but close enough...

[Truvelo]

I'm surprised the Trans Canada wasn't routed along it when the toll went. The difference in travel time between the two routes is amazing.

[PJG]

The roads round that part of BC are incredible and very dangerous at the same time. I used to know someone who worked in the hospital in Ashcroft (a large village by UK standards). A&E was the largest department with 99% of 'custom' from wrecks on the Trans Canada - the next closest hospital was hours away.

[J N Winkler]

I drove on the Coquihalla in the late summer of 2003. The tolls had already been abolished, and the fun factor was quite high. However, I observed a fair amount of embankment subsidence that must have occurred in the seventeen years since original construction--quite often I would come through a curve only to wallow in a low spot in the road.

[Truvelo]

I first used it in 2005 and the tolls were still there. They went sometime between then and my next visit in 2010.