Description
What’s included: $1,995 flat truck rate covers fuel and deadhead, size/weight limits (800 lbs, 5’7″ bed, 60″ height max — larger loads require the trailer at $2,495), layover ($375) and detention ($140/hr — 30 min free at pickup, 30 min free at drop-off, tracked separately) apply on top if triggered.
The run from Vancouver
Princeton is about 290 km out, roughly 3.5 hours, and it is the one Trans-Canada cluster hub that does not use the Coquihalla. The route runs Highway 1 to Hope, then 126 km on Highway 3 through Manning Park. Two summits, both higher than Coquihalla Summit: Allison Pass at 1,342 m, the highest point on the Hope-Princeton, and Sunday Summit at 1,284 m. The profile is a steep climb out of Hope past the Hope Slide, a long pull to Allison, a descent along the Similkameen, then the climb over Sunday. The highway opened on 2 November 1949 and cut the Hope-to-Princeton trip from about 300 km to 135. This is also the standing detour when the Coquihalla closes, which means Highway 3 gets busy at exactly the moment the weather is worst.
What moves here
Copper Mountain Mine, about 20 km south in the Similkameen Valley, is the town’s anchor and it is growing. Hudbay holds 75% with Mitsubishi Materials at 25%, employing roughly 715 people and rising toward 830, on an annual payroll around $118 million, running a mill at 45,000 tonnes a day. The New Ingerbelle expansion received its permits in February 2026 and broke ground on 16 June 2026, with first production targeted for 2027 and mine life extended to around 2045 — sustaining 800-plus full-time jobs past 2040. The sawmill is operating under new ownership: Weyerhaeuser completed its sale of the Princeton mill to the Gorman Group in September 2025. Copper has been mined in this valley on and off since 1923. The town counted 2,894 people in 2021.
Scales and seasonal limits
There is no inspection station at Princeton. The Hope cluster of Hunter Creek, Laidlaw and Haig covers the outbound leg, and Kaleden sits east on the Highway 97 corridor. BC posts spring load restrictions as a percentage of legal axle loading — 100%, 70% or 50% — applied only above 5,500 kg licensed GVW. The South Okanagan service area, which includes Princeton, lifted its 2026 restrictions on 7 May. Winter tires or chains are required on Highway 3 from 1 October to 30 April.
Local fun fact
The Kettle Valley Railway reached Princeton in April 1915, and five years later, in October 1920, the CPR completed a dedicated branch line south to Copper Mountain purely to move ore. Coal came first — exploratory mining started in 1898, and Princeton Coal and Land supplied the town’s electricity from 1911 to 1914 before the copper company took the job over. The 1915 railway bridge substructure over the Tulameen is still in service, carrying a pedestrian bridge rebuilt on it in 2009.





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