CBC Archives

Brainstorm with the students what is wrong or difficult with our highways. Identify the challenges of finances, difficult terrain, long distances, dangerous zones, tollbooths, and twinned highways. Ask students for suggested solutions to the problems on our highways.

Direct students to the topic Trans-Canada Highway: Bridging the Distance on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site. Assign Clips #5 to #8 and have the students review the clips several times and read The Story and Did You Know? sections. Students should note specific challenges of maintaining a 7,821 km highway, and the attempted government resolutions to problems along the Trans-Canada Highway.

Using the download sheet Maintaining a Highway, students will develop a scenario from one of the video or audio clips and create a comic strip depicting the need for highway improvements. Students may need guidance in selecting content to ensure sensitivity, as some of the public concerns regarding the highway relate to loss of life.

Have the students share their comic strips with the class. Discuss which conditions or situations the students felt were most serious and how they propose the government should resolve the situation.

Students can write the script for and conduct a mock interview with a member of the public who is experiencing frustration with an aspect of the Trans-Canada Highway. The focus will be on the need for repair, increased maintenance, and added safety.