The Cape Horn Interchange, named after nearby Cape Horn Avenue, is a major interchange on British Columbia Highway 1, where it connects to Lougheed Highway, a heavily signalized thoroughfare in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Burnaby, and the Mary Hill Bypass, bypassing the Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam sections of Lougheed Highway and forming the quickest route to Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge. It also includes several exits to United Boulevard, a light-industrial and commercial road in southern Coquitlam. The Canadian Pacific Railway mainline roughly follows the alignment of Lougheed Highway in this area, and skirts the south and east sides of the interchange.
Design
This interchange contains several "types" of interchanges within it, but overall is a hybrid stack interchange. The junction between Highways 1 and 7 is a 4-way, 3-level stack interchange, with two turning movements omitted. Vehicles making those movements should use the Brunette Avenue Interchange, 4 km west of the Cape Horn. Hwy 7B has a half-single point urban interchange with United Boulevard, and then westbound 7B merges onto Highways 1 and 7 westbound. Traffic from eastbound Highways 1 and 7 each have a free-flowing ramp to Highway 7B east. Just north of the Hwys 1/7 junction, United Boulevard intersects Lougheed Highway with two free-flowing ramps. Via this connection, traffic from Mariner Way and Cape Horn Avenue may also access the interchange. On the Port Mann Bridge, where Highway 1crosses the Fraser River immediately east of the interchange, eastbound traffic to 152nd Street/Surrey City Centre must exit before the bridge, in the middle of the Cape Horn Interchange, and cross the bridge in a 2-lane carriageway, separate from the mainline. Westbound traffic follows a similar arrangement, where vehicles seeking to exit at the Cape Horn Interchange from Highway 1 westbound must exit before the bridge, at exit 44. The Cape Horn Interchange also features two truck-only exits to United Boulevard. Namely, from Highway 1 westbound to the intersection of United Boulevard and Fawcett Road, and from Highways 1 and 7 eastbound to the intersection of United and Leeder Street. Trucks can also access Highway 1 east from the intersection of United and Fawcett. This entrance leads directly into the separated lanes for 152nd Street in Surrey, and they can merge back onto the mainline of the freeway after the exit to 152nd. General traffic may use these ramps on weekends and after 5pm on weekdays.
History
Originally opened with the expressway alignment of Highway 1 this interchange featured a trumpet interchange on Highway 1, a short connecting road, and then a modified half-cloverleaf interchange with Highway 7. As part of the Port Mann/Highway 1 Improvement project, which saw the replacement of the Port Mann Bridge, this interchange was significantly modified to reduce bottlenecks and weaving.
