Have you ever wondered why “Highway Drive” in Glenmerry is called just that?
Instead of being called a flowery name like the other Glenmerry streets, that is.
Sarah Benson-Lord, Trail Museum and Archives manager, explains why the main artery through the bedroom neighbourhood was settled as Highway Drive many moons ago.
Longtime Trail residents will remember that Bailey Street once ended at the north end of Fourth Avenue, where the old wooden staircase funneled eager teenagers away from the high school, Benson-Lord begins.
Prior to 1965, traffic flowed through downtown Trail, across the now-decommissioned Old Trail Bridge, up Columbia Avenue in East Trail, and along Highway Drive into the new subdivision of Glenmerry.
“Trail experienced the progressive and government-subsidized development the entire province experienced in the 1960s, prefaced by the construction of the Victoria Street Bridge in 1961,” Benson-Lord explains.
“With the new bridge, the Ministry of Highways began work on a substantial arterial highway through town, with improvements starting at the top of Rossland Avenue.”
The corner pictured here, situated just before the current McKelvey Creek landfill entrance looking east, was captured in 1965.
By April of 1966, resurfacing of the whole stretch took place and the tunnel beneath allowed for foot traffic from the busy high school.
In June 1966, Trail council opted to leave “Highway Drive” through Glenmerry alone, choosing not to change the name to “Columbia Drive” as first proposed.
Benson-Lord says the city initially thought the similar moniker to the highway would generate tourist confusion (Highway 3 and Highway Drive).
Responding to many complaints by businesses and residents, mainly due to their personal cost to change it, council tabled the discussion.
That’s why it remains to this day, “Highway Drive.”
“These projects changed the face of Trail forever, for better or worse, as Highway 3 created a bypass away from the downtown core to accommodate ever-increasing vehicular and truck traffic,” Benson-Lord concludes.
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