In British Columbia, the highway is entirely in mountainous regions and is also known as the Southern Trans-Provincial Highway. The first segment between the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5A is locally known as the Hope-Princeton Highway, and passes by the site of the Hope Slide. In Alberta, the terrain is initially mountainous, before smoothing to foothills and eventually generally flat prairie in the vicinity of Pincher Creek. The highway forms part of the Red Coat Trail and the CANAMEX Corridor from Highway 2 near Fort Macleod to Highway 4 in Lethbridge.