Highway handover (or highway transfer) occurs when a province transfers ownership and maintenance responsibility for a highway section to a municipality. This typically happens when highways running through communities have become more like urban arterial roads than intercity routes, or when provinces seek to reduce their road network management burden. Handovers should include adequate funding—lump sums for deferred maintenance, rehabilitation costs, and sometimes ongoing maintenance grants—though municipalities often argue transfers don't provide sufficient resources. Handover negotiations consider road condition, maintenance costs, traffic volumes, and economic impacts on communities that suddenly become responsible for major roads. The transfer shifts financial burden from provincial taxpayers broadly to local property taxpayers specifically. Municipalities may resist handovers without adequate funding, fearing they'll inherit liability for roads requiring expensive reconstruction. Highway handovers exemplify broader downloading concerns in provincial-municipal relations.