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British Columbia Coast

The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada along the Pacific Ocean is in the province, it is synonymous with being the West Coast of Canada.

British Columbia Coast
French: Côte de la Colombie-Britannique

Canada

244,778 km2 (94,509 sq mi)

4,019 m (13,186 ft)

0 m (0 ft)

3,686,900[2]

80.24/km2 (207.8/sq mi)

While the exact boundaries are variously defined, the region is generally defined to include the 15 regional districts that have coastline along the Pacific Ocean or Salish Sea, or are part of the Lower Mainland, a subregion of the British Columbia Coast. Other boundaries may exclude parts of or even entire regional districts, such as those of the aforementioned Lower Mainland.

Boundaries[edit]

While the term British Columbia Coast has been recorded from the earliest period of non-native settlement in British Columbia, it has never been officially defined in legal terms. The term has historically been in popular usage for over a century to describe a region of the province that extends west from the Coast Mountains and North Cascades. This definition makes the term British Columbia Coast largely synonymous with the 15 regional districts that have territory in this region.

: Includes Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and sometimes Quadra Island.

Vancouver Island

: Includes Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, and sometimes the Sea-to-Sky Corridor.

Lower Mainland

: Includes the islands and mainland coast between Howe Sound and Desolation Sound.

Sunshine Coast

South Coast: Includes the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast, but excludes Vancouver Island. This subregion is closely associated with the .

Salish Sea

Central Coast: Includes the islands and mainland coast between Desolation Sound and . This subregion is sparsely populated and is represented by the regional districts of Strathcona and Mount Waddington. The northern limit of this subregion is often extended northward to the Don Peninsula to include Central Coast Regional District.

Cape Caution

North Coast: Includes the islands and mainland coast between and Portland Canal.[3] This subregion is represented by the regional districts of Central Coast, Kitimat–Stikine, and North Coast. This subregion is closely associated with the Great Bear Rainforest.

Cape Caution

: Includes the Haida Gwaii archipelago, which located about 90 km (56 mi) west of the mainland North Coast.

Haida Gwaii

Among locals, the British Columbia Coast can further be divided into seven major subregions:

Transportation[edit]

Highways[edit]

The Coast Region of B.C is connected to the rest of B.C by various roads depending on the region.


The populous Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland is linked to the rest of the province by Highway 1 (Fraser Canyon Highway), Highway 5 (Coquihalla Freeway), Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) and Highway 99 (Sea to Sky Highway). The Lower Mainland is also connected to the U.S. by four highway border crossings with the Peace Arch on Interstate 5 being the largest. Several freeways connect lower mainland communities together.


The backbone of Vancouver Island's highway network is the Highway 19 which along with a portion of Highway 1 forms the Island Highway. The Island highway is a mix of 4-lane freeway, 4 lane arterial highway and 2 lane highway running roughly along the east shore of Vancouver Island. Access to the west coast of Vancouver Island can be accomplished by crossing mountain passes on Highway 4 to Tofino and Highway 28 to Gold River. Thousands of other roads ranging from small freeways near Victoria to logging roads exist all over the Island.


Although the Sunshine Coast is on the mainland it is connected to the highway network only by ferries. It has one route which is Highway 101, a narrow curvy 2 lane road split in two by a ferry crossing. Texada Island, a large island off the Sunshine Coast and has its own network of highway standard roads although they are unnumbered.


Owing to the challenging topography of the British Columbia Coast, there is no north–south highway linking the coastal communities of the province between Port Hardy and Kitimat. Instead, travellers utilize one of the coastal ferry lines operated by BC Ferries. The exceptions are Bella Coola is accessible by a long largely gravel Highway 20 from the B.C interior over a high pass; and the towns of Terrace, Prince Rupert and Kitimat which is assessed from the B.C. interior on Highway 16.


Haida Gwaii has an extension of Highway 16 on it, one of Haida Gwaii's few paved roads.

Atlantic Canada

British Columbia Interior

Pacific Northwest

Watch the NFB documentary The Intertidal Zone on BC's coastline

The Atlas of Canada – Coastline and Shoreline