Douglas Street is a

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

. It is named after

Sir James Douglas James Douglas may refer to: Scottish noblemen Lords of Angus * James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Angus (1426–1446), Scottish nobleman * James Douglas, Earl of Angus (1671–1692), son of the 2nd Marquess of Douglas Lords of Douglas * James Douglas, ...

, the second Governor of the

Colony of Vancouver Island The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia. ...

. A segment of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

, the main part of Douglas Street runs approximately from Dallas Road on the

Georgia Strait The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

to just north of Saanich Road, where the Trans-Canada curves westward towards the

Western Communities The Western Communities, also called the West Shore (e.g.West Shore RCMP or Westshore (e.gWestshore Town Centre, is the suburban municipalities of Colwood, British Columbia, Colwood, Langford, British Columbia, Langford, Metchosin, British Columbi ...

. The

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their i ...

of Douglas Street and Dallas Road is the western end of the Trans Canada Highway, known as Mile 0. There is a small monument at the corner to recognize this fact along with a statue of

Terry Fox Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958 June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money ...

. North from the water Douglas passes the

Beacon Lodge The Beacon Lodge is an apartment building in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Located at 30 Douglas Street, the building is directly across from the start of the Trans-Canada Highway, and just down the street from the Beacon Drive-In. The b ...

, then forms the western border of

Beacon Hill Park Beacon Hill Park is a 75 ha (200 acre) park located along the shore of Juan de Fuca Strait in Victoria, British Columbia. The park is popular both with tourists and locals, and contains a number of amenities including woodland and shoreline trail ...

before passing behind the Empress Hotel and the

Royal British Columbia Museum Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum (sometimes referred to as Royal BC Museum) consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The museum is loca ...

. Douglas Street forms the main north-south route through

downtown Victoria Downtown Victoria is a neighbourhood of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the city centre and the central business district for the City of Victoria, and the Greater Victoria regions. Characteristics The downtown area is an e ...

. The annual

Victoria Day Victoria Day (french: Fête de la Reine, lit=Celebration of the Queen) is a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday preceding May 25. Initially in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday, it has since been celebrated as the offi ...

Parade also marches down this street, starting at Mayfair Centre, and ending at the British Columbia Legislature. Before the construction of the Patricia Bay Highway in the late 1950s, Douglas Street extended a further northward, ending at the current interchange of the Pat Bay Highway and Quadra Street. Two disconnected segments of this former extension, which were not overbuilt by the new artery, retain the name Douglas Street.

Trivia

*Douglas Street is the most expensive property in the 1982 edition of the game

Canadian Monopoly Canadian Monopoly is an edition of the popular board game Monopoly. It features Canadian properties, railways, and utilities, rather than the original version which is based in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Canadian edition was originally released ...

External links

BC Highways - Highway 1Map archive at ViHistory website
with a 1953 Victoria and Vicinity Street Map showing the original route of Douglas Street. Roads in Victoria, British Columbia Urban segments of the Trans-Canada Highway {{BritishColumbia-road-stub