page_title: Banff–Windermere Highway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Banff–Windermere Highway / History
caption_attribution_description: English: I took this picture leaving Kootenay National Park and entering Banff National Park.
context_page_description: The Banff-Windermere Highway, also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway, is a 105 km highway which runs through the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia and Alberta in Canada. It runs from Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia to Castle Junction, Alberta, passing through Kootenay National Park and Banff National Park. It is designated as part of British Columbia Highway 93 and Alberta Highway 93.
context_section_description: The corridor along the Kootenay and Vermilion Rivers had been uses as a first nations travel route for thousands of years. In 1858, Sir James Hector travelled through Vermilion Pass and recommended that it would be the best route for a wagon road. In the early 1900s settlers in the Columbia Valley advocated for improved connections with Banff and Calgary and lobbied the BC provincial government to construct a road. With the overall goal of constructing an all-Canadian road between the Canadian Prairies and Pacific Ocean, the Alberta provincial and federal governments were consulted. Construction began in 1911, and by 1914 the road was opened between Calgary and Vermilion Pass as well as a 19 km (12 mi) western section. The outbreak of World War I resulted in a suspension of construction, and following the conclusion of the war the British Columbia provincial government did not have enough funds to complete the project. The Banff-Windermere Road Agreement was reached whereby the federal government would complete the remaining 85 km (53 mi) of road, and in exchange they would receive a 5 mi (8 km) buffer of land on each side of the highway for conservation purposes; approximately 1,600 km² (600 sq mi) in total. This resulted in the creation of Kootenay National Park. The road opened in 1922 and was first highway to cross the Central Canadian Rockies, with the Kicking Horse Trail across Kicking Horse Pass (the corridor which eventually became part of the Trans-Canada Highway) opening in 1926, connecting Lake Louise and Golden.
caption: Castle Mountain, in Banff National Park, as seen from Highway 93 near the Alberta border.
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