East–west

• The Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) runs from Victoria to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Then, after a ferry ride to the mainland, it continues from Horseshoe Bay, through the Vancouver area, Abbotsford, Hope, Kamloops, Salmon Arm, and Revelstoke to Kicking Horse Pass on the BC/Alberta border. This is the major east-west route in the province.
• The Crowsnest Highway (Highway 3) runs from Hope, then through Osoyoos, Castlegar, Cranbrook, right to Crowsnest Pass on the BC/Alberta border. This is a southern alternate route to the Trans-Canada, and runs very close to the Canada–US border.
• The Yellowhead/Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 16) starts on Haida Gwaii. After a ferry ride to the mainland, it runs from Prince Rupert through Smithers and Prince George, and then meets the Alberta border at Yellowhead Pass.
• The Lougheed Highway (Highway 7) is a major alternate route that runs from Vancouver to Hope, north of the Fraser River.
• The Okanagan Connector (Highway 97C) is a short but major route that connects the Okanagan Valley to the Coquihalla Highway (Highway 5) at Merritt. 97C branches off Highway 97 at Peachland, about midway between Penticton and Kelowna.

North–south

• The Island Highway (Highway 19) is an extension of Highway 1 on Vancouver Island. It runs from Nanaimo and provides access to all points northbound on Vancouver Island, including Parksville, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Hardy.
• The Patricia Bay Highway (Highway 17) starts in Victoria and heads northward through Saanich to the Swartz Bay ferry terminal. Recently, there was a gap between the segments of Highway 17 (now filled in with the SFPR), as the Mainland portion was designated as Highway 17A. The new South Fraser Perimeter Road has been named as Highway 17, and presently is open in Delta and Surrey between Highway 17a and Highway 15.
• Highway 99 starts as an extension of Interstate 5 at the Canada–US border in Surrey as a freeway until entering the city of Vancouver. There it becomes a series of various heavily signalized major city core thoroughfares, notably Granville Street and Georgia Street. After crossing the Lions Gate Bridge, the highway - now known as the Sea-to-Sky Highway, is a two-to-four lane route that accesses Squamish and Whistler, before veering east and meeting with Highway 97 north of Cache Creek.
• The Coquihalla/Southern Yellowhead Highway (Highway 5) is a freeway that bypasses the slower Fraser Canyon portion of the Trans Canada Highway, connecting the cities of Hope, Merritt, and Kamloops. The segment between Hope and Merritt was a toll highway until 2008. North of Kamloops, the route is known as the Southern Yellowhead Highway, and meets up with the main route of the Yellowhead Highway near the Alberta border.
• Highway 97 is the longest highway in the province. The highway starts at the Canada–US border near Osoyoos. The highway, here known as the Okanagan Highway, passes through the major Okanagan Valley cities of Penticton, West Kelowna, Kelowna, and Vernon, before ending in Kamloops. From Kamloops, it is known as the Cariboo Highway, and passes through Cache Creek, Williams Lake, Quesnel, and ends in Prince George. North from there, it is known as the John Hart Highway, and ends in Dawson Creek. From there, the highway then is known as the famed Alaska Highway, and travels northwest through the province until it reaches the Yukon border.

Unofficial numbers

Provincially maintained roads with informal or unofficial numbers:^[5][7]

Pseudo routes

Provincially maintained routes which are unnumbered. Route numbers are unsigned and internally referred to as "pseudo-numbers". Pseudo-numbers start with a 9, followed by a two-digit number designating a "transportation district", a colon, and then a four-digit number derived from the province's Landmark Kilometre Inventory system.^[5][8]