My wife and I took a road trip from approximately Toronto to BC, and then down through the states for the return trip (and to meet up with US friends). Just south of Thunder Bay appeared to be the worst section. Partially because of when we hit it; just as night was setting in, with rain and heavy fog. Twisting two lane roads along hill sides, sometimes with steep drop offs on the edge, and no lights. My wife's nght vision is horrible compared to mine, and as such, she was constantly scared over this part, as she couldn't see the road. If memory serve, around this area, there were even still road signs with distances in miles, as opposed to km.

While the two lane roads, and stop lights might not have been the ultimate sign of 1st world progress, once past Thunder Bay, they didn't feel unsafe, and there really weren't that many stop lights.

My greatest delight was in BC, about 5km before the trans canadian highway ended, we actually had to stop, as the road was covered in goats. Live goats, milling around, and not caring about us. We didn't try honking at them, as we weren't in a rush, and enjoyed watching them and grabbing some pics. 2km later, we had to slow, as suddenly a deer or elk ran by, followed about 5 seconds later by what we guess was a Coyote. Just one more km later, there was a black bear bumbling about in the ditch. It seemed more like some animal theme park, than the last few km of the TCH.

But of note, despite needing to stop for the goats, and stopping voluntarily for pics of the black bear, and this being the middle of the day, no one caught up to us from behind. There isn't enough traffic to require 4 lane roads in most of the TCH, and I'm actually rather glad that it wasn't overbuilt.

"highway turned into the monotony of 50 mph two lane."

Ah, the treasured blue highways. I often have wondered if we had kept these roads, instead of the interstate system, if our oil consumption wouldn't have been acre feet less. Forced us to keep the efficiency of rail, and more local production.

I traveled the Alcan to White Horse-Dawson and finally north about 15 years ago. The "bridge" over the Peace River in BC was truly fightening. The leg north to Inuvik, NWT, at the mouth of the MacKenzie, required 6 new tires. Shards of limestone and shale. That section had only one "station", no settlements, on its entire length. Luckily, it had our tire size. Return trip was a day and a half longer, as someone had inadvertently put diesel in a gas engine for a MacKenzie ferry. Nothing to do but wait on the roadside till parts could be summoned to fix.