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A Road for Canada: The Illustrated Story of the Trans-canada Highway
A Road for Canada traces the history of the Trans-Canada Highway, from its origins, conceived more than a century ago as a wagon road, to its present-day status as a crucial artery linking Canada from ocean to ocean. Lavishly illustrated the book recounts the first attempts to cross Canada by car and tells the stories of the dreamers who persevered with their vision of a national road.
- GenresCanada
192 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 9, 2026
Half coffee-table book, half really enjoyable history. The photos really enhanced the text.
This is a book about traveling coast to coast through Canada. A big challenge to start, as many roads needed to be built. As car culture grew, so did the demand for roads. This work documents the choices and challenges of building (and marketing!) what would become the Trans-Canada Highway.
I enjoyed reading about Rogers Pass and the various choices in BC - read this while camping just south of the border. For me, there was a little too much focus on the politics and administrations. The closing of the book warns of the infrastructure and update costs. It would have been nice to compare that to the growing usage over the years.
Recommended for history geeks, and fans of roads or Canada. I'm in all those categories :)
This is a book about traveling coast to coast through Canada. A big challenge to start, as many roads needed to be built. As car culture grew, so did the demand for roads. This work documents the choices and challenges of building (and marketing!) what would become the Trans-Canada Highway.
I enjoyed reading about Rogers Pass and the various choices in BC - read this while camping just south of the border. For me, there was a little too much focus on the politics and administrations. The closing of the book warns of the infrastructure and update costs. It would have been nice to compare that to the growing usage over the years.
Recommended for history geeks, and fans of roads or Canada. I'm in all those categories :)
June 16, 2017
The map left out the PEI portion of the TransCanada, but still a good read with lots of images.
November 12, 2025
Let’s build a road across Canada, someone said! Great idea. It was in the early days of the 1950s. There was no one road that linked the east coast of Canada with the west coast. To drive from one side to the other meant that at many stretches one had to travel through the 13th province of Canada e.g., the USA (my words, not the author of the book, humor intended).
This was not satisfactory for Canada to develop itself as a stand-alone country. So the idea was struck – build our own road.
Daniel Francis does a remarkable job of pulling all the stories together of the early days of the Trans-Canada Highway into a coherent book. He starts with the stories of some of the first efforts to drive across Canada before the highway was built.
Eventually, the task was begun as Quebec built its own section, and the other provinces, with the Federal government of the day, built the rest of the highway. This was no easy task. It involved building bridges and/or ferry service on the Islands off the east coast, the brutal task of building a road across the immense province of Ontario, the flat plains of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta to the impossible mountain passes of British Columbia eventually ending in Victoria, BC.
The telling of this story is fascinating. The author describes the almost impossible task of this diverse country working together to see this project completed.
One would think that this road-building project of the province of Canada would bind the country together. It did not! The Premier of British Columbia and Quebec would not attend the Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony.
However, in the author’s estimation, the Canadian highway tied the country together through two people who united the country. The first was Terry Fox, who started his Marathon of Hope to raise funds for cancer research in 1981. The second was Rick Hansen, whose event, the Man in Motion, started in 1985, generated revenue to support people with disabilities. The effect of these two events solidified support across Canada and was possible because of the highway across Canada.
The stories that go with this historical account of the road across Canada are wonderful.
This was not satisfactory for Canada to develop itself as a stand-alone country. So the idea was struck – build our own road.
Daniel Francis does a remarkable job of pulling all the stories together of the early days of the Trans-Canada Highway into a coherent book. He starts with the stories of some of the first efforts to drive across Canada before the highway was built.
Eventually, the task was begun as Quebec built its own section, and the other provinces, with the Federal government of the day, built the rest of the highway. This was no easy task. It involved building bridges and/or ferry service on the Islands off the east coast, the brutal task of building a road across the immense province of Ontario, the flat plains of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta to the impossible mountain passes of British Columbia eventually ending in Victoria, BC.
The telling of this story is fascinating. The author describes the almost impossible task of this diverse country working together to see this project completed.
One would think that this road-building project of the province of Canada would bind the country together. It did not! The Premier of British Columbia and Quebec would not attend the Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony.
However, in the author’s estimation, the Canadian highway tied the country together through two people who united the country. The first was Terry Fox, who started his Marathon of Hope to raise funds for cancer research in 1981. The second was Rick Hansen, whose event, the Man in Motion, started in 1985, generated revenue to support people with disabilities. The effect of these two events solidified support across Canada and was possible because of the highway across Canada.
The stories that go with this historical account of the road across Canada are wonderful.
November 19, 2011
Kelita & I read aloud from "A Road for Canada: The Illustrated Story of the Trans-Canada Highway" by Daniel Francis. It is an inspiring read illustrating how important decisions by a few Canadians can lead to prosperity for many. Go out and VOTE today. Your decision to vote will help improve the lives of the many.
January 4, 2013
As a new Canadian (five years), I'm exploring more Canadian books. I picked this up at the library. I actually kind of expected it to be dry, but it was humourous and informative and very interesting. The photos are great, too. I had to keep wrestling it from my husband who was immediately drawn to it, too.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews