No time for a road trip this summer? Jump in the B.C. Road Trip Time Machine

Summer is here and many people think about taking a road trip, cruising scenic B.C. highways on a hot summer day.

If travel plans aren’t immediately on the agenda, a trip down memory lane with a B.C. Road Trip Time Machine video might be just what you’re looking for.

The Ministry of Transportation’s social media team has created 23 videos of “road trips” by digitizing 16 mm photo log footage taken in 1966.

The original idea behind the photo logs was to save provincial highway engineers the cost and time of having to travel the various highways to monitor road conditions, the ministry says. By viewing the photo logs, highway personnel could check out road conditions and plan safety improvement projects on 9,000 kilometres of highways — from Fort St. John to the tip of Vancouver Island — without ever leaving their desks in Victoria.

Photo logs were created by rigging a camera to the dashboard of a vehicle that took still images of the highway every 26 metres. The still frames were spliced together into a single film clip.

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The ministry runs the film through a vintage projector and records the projection, which is then slowed to 27 per cent of its original speed for viewing.

Videos have been created highlighting several B.C. Interior highways including Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton, Highway 97 from the U.S. border to Penticton, Penticton to Kelowna, Kelowna to Vernon, the U.S. border to Vernon, and one of the newest Road Trip Time Machine videos, Highway 8 from Merritt to Spences Bridge.

The videos capture a less sophisticated time in B.C. highway history when major highways were paved, but still full of curves, with narrow gravel shoulders, minimal safety features, and for the most part, light rural traffic. Even then, more than 50 years ago, it’s astonishing to see how many recreational vehicles there were on B.C. roads.

The first Road Trip Time Machine was released in January 2016 and the ministry invites viewers to share suggestions for future videos by visiting its website here.

Some of the more exceptional still frames in the films have also been shared on the ministry's Flickr page here.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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Steve Arstad

I have been looking for news in the South Okanagan - SImilkameen for 20 years, having turned a part time lifelong interest into a full time profession. After five years publishing a local newsletter, several years working as a correspondent / stringer for several local newspapers and seven years as editor of a Similkameen weekly newspaper, I joined iNFOnews.ca in 2014. My goal in the news industry has always been to deliver accurate and interesting articles about local people and places. My interest in the profession is life long - from my earliest memories of grade school, I have enjoyed writing.
As an airborne geophysical surveyor I travelled extensively around the globe, conducting helicopter borne mineral surveys.
I also spent several years at an Okanagan Falls based lumber mill, producing glued-wood laminated products.
As a member of the Kaleden community, I have been involved in the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Department for 22 years, and also serve as a trustee on the Kaleden Irrigation District board.
I am currently married to my wife Judy, of 26 years. We are empty-nesters who enjoy living in Kaleden with our Welsh Terrier, Angus, and cat, Tibbs.
Our two daughters, Meagan and Hayley, reside in Richmond and Victoria, respectively.

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