British Columbia Highway 99

Highway 99, also known as the Fraser Delta Thruway south of Vancouver, and the Sea to Sky Highway, the Squamish Highway, or Whistler Highway north of Vancouver, is the major north-south artery running through the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia from the U.S. border, up Howe Sound through the Sea to Sky Country to Lillooet, and connecting to Highway 97 just north of Cache Creek. The number of this highway is derived from the old U.S. Route 99, with which the highway originally connected. The highway currently connects with Interstate 5 at the international border.

This highway received the '99' designation in 1942 after completion of the King George VI Highway (1940) to the U.S. border, and it originally shared an alignment with Highway 1 from Surrey to Vancouver via the Pattullo Bridge and Kingsway. The current freeway alignment of Highway 99 between 8th Avenue in South Surrey and the North Arm of the Fraser River opened in 1962 as Hwy. 99 and was called the Deas (Island) Throughway. Between 1964 and 1973, the freeway alignment of Highway 99 was designated Highway 499. The Oak Street Bridge was built in 1957 to cross the North Arm Fraser River and the Deas Island Tunnel was built 1957-59 (renamed the George Massey Tunnel in 1967) to cross the Fraser River. Tolls were collected at the crossings but were rescinded by the provincial government around 1963-64.