TCH Endpoints

[roadman65]

Why are the endpoints of the TCH Mile Zero instead of Kilometer Zero?

Considering the nation uses metric, having mile zero seems beyond odd.

[kphoger]

Why are the endpoints of the TCH Mile Zero instead of Kilometer Zero?

Considering the nation uses metric, having mile zero seems beyond odd.

It's an overstatement that "the nation uses metric".  Canadians use a mix of metric and customary units.  And my understanding is that people in the prairie provinces have a better grasp of miles than in other parts because townships were surveyed in miles—meaning there's often one road per mile, whether the official measurement is in metric or not.

[Molandfreak]

"Kilometre Zero" doesn't have the same ring that "Mile Zero" does.

The endpoint in Newfoundland looks like signage refers to it interchangeably. It would be a bit silly to remove and replace a longstanding historical monument when there is no conversion necessary.

[vdeane]

I'd be curious how old the monument is.  The TCH had already been around for a couple decades when Canada officially went metric.

"Kilometre Zero" doesn't have the same ring that "Mile Zero" does.

The endpoint in Newfoundland looks like signage refers to it interchangeably. It would be a bit silly to remove and replace a longstanding historical monument when there is no conversion necessary.

There's signage?  I couldn't find anything in street view - it looks like the TCH just disappears at exit 50.

[NE2]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/iLw8Z6JacgTEnEYx9

[oscar]

I'd be curious how old the monument is.  The TCH had already been around for a couple decades when Canada officially went metric.

"Kilometre Zero" doesn't have the same ring that "Mile Zero" does.

The endpoint in Newfoundland looks like signage refers to it interchangeably. It would be a bit silly to remove and replace a longstanding historical monument when there is no conversion necessary.

There's signage?  I couldn't find anything in street view - it looks like the TCH just disappears at exit 50.

The "Mile 0" sign in Newfoundland is in downtown St. John's, perhaps at the original east end of the TCH (the freeway bypass north of downtown came later). See http://www.alaskaroads.com/photos-Newfoundland-page2.htm for photos and more info.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/iLw8Z6JacgTEnEYx9

That wasn't there last time I was in southeastern Newfoundland, more than two decades ago.

Google Maps shows the TCH east end where I thought it was, on the Outer Ring northeast of downtown St. John's.

[dmuzika]

The Trans-Canada Highway predates Canada going from Imperial to Metric.

But as a joke, I've wondered if Canadian football should have converted to meters instead of yards. Centre field would be the 50 meter line instead 55 yard line.

[dmuzika]

I'd be curious how old the monument is.  The TCH had already been around for a couple decades when Canada officially went metric.

"Kilometre Zero" doesn't have the same ring that "Mile Zero" does.

The endpoint in Newfoundland looks like signage refers to it interchangeably. It would be a bit silly to remove and replace a longstanding historical monument when there is no conversion necessary.

There's signage?  I couldn't find anything in street view - it looks like the TCH just disappears at exit 50.

The "Mile 0" sign in Newfoundland is in downtown St. John's, perhaps at the original east end of the TCH (the freeway bypass north of downtown came later). See http://www.alaskaroads.com/photos-Newfoundland-page2.htm for photos and more info.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/iLw8Z6JacgTEnEYx9

That wasn't there last time I was in southeastern Newfoundland, more than two decades ago.

Google Maps shows the TCH east end where I thought it was, on the Outer Ring northeast of downtown St. John's.

That's pretty much what happened. In Mark Richardson's The Drive Across Canada, he talks about how TCH 1 was moved to the Outer Ring Road in the 1990s and the lack of signage indicating the current eastern terminus (pp 15-16); the fact that it's unceremoniously near a garbage dump might have something to do with it. 

Personally I would like to see the designations of TCH 1 and NL 2 switched east of their interchange, where NL follows the Ring Road and TCH 1 goes back to its original alignment into downtown St. John's. The western terminus in Victoria, BC has TCH 1 ending at Beacon Hill Park, with its own 'Mile Zero' monument and overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The Yellowhead Highway, also part of the Trans-Canada Highway, has two Mile Zeros, with its eastern terminus being the corner of Portage & Main in downtown Winnipeg, while its western terminus is at Masset, BC on Haida Gwaii.


Winnipeg, MB


Masset, BC

[Max Rockatansky]

The Trans-Canada Highway predates Canada going from Imperial to Metric.

But as a joke, I've wondered if Canadian football should have converted to meters instead of yards. Centre field would be the 50 meter line instead 55 yard line.

It is amusing to read older Canadian papers about highway development in 1950s era British Columbia and seeing Imperial units.  Even a cannery museum in Steveston  I recently visited had almost nothing but Imperial units on machinery.

[Road Hog]

At this point the average Canadian can probably do most conversions in their heads or have learned them. Like a 5/16" spanner is equivalent to an 8 mm.

[GaryV]

spanner

And they convert that in their head to "wrench". 

[cbeach40]

It is amusing to read older Canadian papers about highway development in 1950s era British Columbia and seeing Imperial units.  Even a cannery museum in Steveston  I recently visited had almost nothing but Imperial units on machinery.

The Imperial vestiges and/or US influences when you get into the weeds in highway engineering I always find amusing. For example, was going through the drawings for a highway and I was like, "why the heck did they make all of these curve radii 579 metres?" before it dawned on me when it was built.

Other fun ones are that while the OTM publishes dimensions with a soft conversion (eg, a sign being 2700 mm tall), the actual manufactured layout is going to be 2745 mm tall as the extruded aluminum panels are 305 mm tall. They just did the soft conversion so the manual looks cleaner.

Another fun one is when doing an operational analysis the pace range* for a highway is a 16 km/h spread for some reason.


(* Pace range will tell you how much speed differential there is out there. The greater the proportion of your sample that falls within that window, the less speed differential there is and the safer the highway will operate)

[splashflash]

The Trans-Canada Highway predates Canada going from Imperial to Metric.

But as a joke, I've wondered if Canadian football should have converted to meters instead of yards. Centre field would be the 50 meter line instead 55 yard line.

It is amusing to read older Canadian papers about highway development in 1950s era British Columbia and seeing Imperial units.  Even a cannery museum in Steveston  I recently visited had almost nothing but Imperial units on machinery.

Well, it was 1974 that metric was instituted by federal edict.  Railways still use imperial mileages.  Temperature works well in SI.  Most people 35 and older still use feet and inches for their heights and pounds for their weights.

[Max Rockatansky]

The Trans-Canada Highway predates Canada going from Imperial to Metric.

But as a joke, I've wondered if Canadian football should have converted to meters instead of yards. Centre field would be the 50 meter line instead 55 yard line.

It is amusing to read older Canadian papers about highway development in 1950s era British Columbia and seeing Imperial units.  Even a cannery museum in Steveston  I recently visited had almost nothing but Imperial units on machinery.

Well, it was 1974 that metric was instituted by federal edict.  Railways still use imperial mileages.  Temperature works well in SI.  Most people 35 and older still use feet and inches for their heights and pounds for their weights.

True, true, a lot of it just belies the modern attitude towards use of Imperial units seen now on most social media platforms.  When I was a kid it wasn't uncommon to see Imperial units on trips passing through Ontario.  Those trips certainly were far closer to 1974 than now. 

[cbeach40]

Well, it was 1974 that metric was instituted by federal edict.  Railways still use imperial mileages.  Temperature works well in SI.  Most people 35 and older still use feet and inches for their heights and pounds for their weights.

True, true, a lot of it just belies the modern attitude towards use of Imperial units seen now on most social media platforms.  When I was a kid it wasn't uncommon to see Imperial units on trips passing through Ontario.  Those trips certainly were far closer to 1974 than now. 

It was a phased approach through the 1970s and into the 80s to officially change. FWIW Ontario's road signs switched in September of 1977.


Edit - wait, that's a weird as heck pairing for that distance sign   

[LilianaUwU]

Pretty sure Québec did it more or less at the same time as the highway renumbering.

[1995hoo]

That ad up above prompts me to think of the signs you often see on major highways shortly after crossing the border from the United States reminding drivers that Canadian highway signs are metric. The thing I've often found slightly odd about them is that they don't show an American-style sign with the words "Speed Limit" and the mph number—instead, they show a Canadian-style sign with the word "Maximum." This one from Autoroute 15 in Quebec is a good example. I always thought it would have been more effective if the upper sign on the left had said "Speed Limit 60." While some of the hardcore Francophones might complain, the sign isn't really directed at them anyway. It's directed at US drivers who are used to miles per hour.



Of course, that's not to say the equivalent signage in the United States (in the rare instance of situations where any such thing exists at all) is any better. While I always somewhat liked this sign that used to be near the northern beginning of southbound I-87, I have to note that it contains two capitalization errors, and I think it would have been more sensible for it just to say "Maximum" to look more like a Canadian sign.