As recent snow flurries in mountain passes remind us that winter weather will soon be here, the government of B.C. has activated another 18 new highway webcams, and has upgraded the Route Planner feature on its DriveBC website to provide motorists with additional tools to plan their trip and travel safe.
A total of 30 new webcams are being added to the network this year, bringing the number of webcam images available on DriveBC to over 250. All are expected to be installed and operating by winter, giving motorists a real-time view of weather and road conditions.
Webcams are just one tool to help you plan your journey. DriveBC also features a Route Planner, which has been upgraded to take into consideration any delays, road closures and border waits along the way. In addition to showing them as icons on the map, the turn-by- turn directions will include the information on any highway message signs associated with that route, and webcam images to give you a full picture.
There are mobile (tablet and smart phone) versions of DriveBC’s Route Planner, too. They provide the same information in the turn-by-turn directions as you’d see on a desktop, and use geo-location to fill in your start point. However, the map has not been included for smart phones due to their display limitations.