Transportation in Calgary

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The city of

Calgary, Alberta, has a large transportation network that encompasses a variety of road, rail, air, public transit, and pedestrian infrastructure. Calgary is also a major Canadian transportation centre and a central cargo hub for freight in and out of north-western North America. The city sits at the junction between the "Canamex" highway system and the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1
in Alberta).

As a prairie city, Calgary has never had any major impediments to growth. As such, it has developed into a city with an area of about 745 km2 (288 sq mi)

freeway
system.

Since 1981, when the city officially opened the first leg of its

Guadalajara, Mexico. Cycling is also seen as a major alternative to driving in Calgary. In recent years, increases in the population and density of inner-city neighbourhoods such as the Beltline
have favoured greater pedestrianism as well.

Public transportation

Main article: Calgary Transit

Calgary's primary public transportation system is operated by

Calgary Region. Some communities within Calgary's metropolitan area provide their own transit services (for example, Airdrie Transit
). Calgary Transit is owned and managed by the City of Calgary.

Light rail

Main article:
C-Train
C-Train at City Hall Station

The

C-Train, consists of 58.5 km (36.4 mi) of track connecting 45[2] stations and was one of the first such systems in North America.[3] Until very recently, Calgary and Edmonton
were the only two North American cities with populations under two million to operate rapid mass transit systems.

The

Somerset–Bridlewood (Route 201) line runs between the Northwest and South Calgary via the 7th Avenue South transit-only corridor. Travel between stations along 7th Avenue in downtown is free-of-charge. Unique to the C-Train system, its power is completely wind generated and completely free of emissions.[4] An extension of the Route 202 line was recently built to serve some Southwest communities to the west of downtown. The project is called the WestLRT and was completed in December 2012.[5]

Buses

See also:
List of Calgary bus lines

Calgary Transit also has a system of buses, with routes stretching over the whole city. It has won several awards for its efficiency and its environmental responsibility. It consists of over 160 bus routes and four C-Train lines (two routes), stretching over 4,500 km (2,800 mi).[6]

Roads and streets

Country Hills Boulevard and Beddington Trail intersection in Sandstone Valley, Calgary.

Calgary has an extensive street network. Smaller roads are supplemented with a number of major arteries,

(Fort) Macleod Trail, and Banff Trail (which combined with 24th Street W was later renamed Crowchild Trail
). More recently developed local expressways were given the Trail moniker and have been named after important people from Calgary's history (Crowchild Trail, Marquis of Lorne Trail), native groups (Stoney Trail, Sarcee Trail, Blackfoot Trail) or again after their destination (Airport Trail). There are a couple of exceptions to this rule in which a few older residential streets have also been labeled "Trail", such as Morley Trail.

Plans originating in the 1950s and 1960s for a considerably more extensive freeway system including elevated freeways were largely abandoned in favour of a growing trend to reduce the emphasis on roads and increase the amount of public transportation infrastructure in North American cities.

Sidewalks at intersections in areas outside the downtown core are often stamped with the name of the cross-street, especially in older districts. As this was once done by hand by municipal employees who were not always literate, some street names are misspelled or the letters reversed.

Organization

Bow Trail heading east into downtown

Traditionally Calgary's roads were built on a grid system. Originally, the streets and avenues were named, but after 1904, they were numbered.

quadrants: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest, and all street names and addresses end with suffixes corresponding to the quadrant of the city in which they lie (NW, NE, SE or SW). The central point of the quadrant system is the Centre Street Bridge, with Centre Street and Centre Avenue forming the boundaries (although the points vary; most of the south end has Macleod Trail as a boundary, except near Chinook Centre
where Macleod Trail bends westward; in the west end, the Bow River forms the boundary for the most part). Roads in predominantly suburban residential areas as well as freeways and expressways do not generally conform to the grid and are usually not numbered as a result (although some suburban streets are indeed numbered if they fall in place on the grid).

The main lines on the grid are fairly evenly distributed at intervals of about 1 mile (1.6 km) where an arterial road (or expressway) is usually situated (on former Township and Range Roads). They are at roughly the following Streets and Avenues (although not always named as such):

  • Avenues north of downtown: 16th, 32nd, 48th, 64th, 80th, 96th, 112th, 128th, 144th
  • Avenues south of downtown: 17th, 34th, 50th, 66th, 82nd, 90th, 114th, 130th, 146th, 162nd, 178th, 194th
  • Streets east of downtown: 6th, 15th, 24th, 36th, 52nd, 68th, 84th
  • Streets west of downtown: 14th, 24th, 37th, 53rd, 69th, 85th, 101st, 117th

A quirk of the numbering is that it was intended for addresses on numbered streets to begin at 100 (not 0) at Centre Street and Centre Avenue and move out accordingly. For example, 545 16th Avenue NW lies between 4th and 5th Streets NW. There are many violations of such, however, especially in suburban areas. The highest address numbers are found on north–south streets in the southernmost suburbs, where they approach 20000.

Major streets

Calgary road network

Skeletal road network

Deerfoot Peigan Trail interchange.

The city of Calgary designated major corridors to allow free flowing travel continuity throughout the city. With one exception (the central portion of 16th Avenue), they are all intended to be upgraded to freeways if they are not already.[9]

Roads designated as north–south corridors, from east to west, are:

Roads designated as east–west corridors from south to north, are:

Air

Calgary International Airport
See also: List of airports in the Calgary area

The

Purolator, and United Parcel Service
.

The airport primarily connects Western Canada with non-stop flights to Eastern Canada, 18 major American cities, as well as destinations to Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and Mexico. Calgary International airport also has regular scheduled service to London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Mexico City and Tokyo.[10]

Calgary International Airport is Canada's

Montreal Trudeau International Airport
. In 2008, it served more than 12.5 million passengers and is expected to for several years.

Calgary's second airport, Calgary/Springbank Airport, is located in the western suburb of Springbank, handles the majority of private-plane flights, and acts as a reliever for the main airport while also being the 11th busiest in Canada for aircraft movements.

Bus

Intercity

Scheduled bus service from Calgary or Calgary Airport and north to Red Deer and Edmonton, or south to Lethbridge, is provided by

Red Arrow, and Ebus. Calgary to Medicine Hat is provided by J&L Shuttle of Medicine Hat. Banff Airporter and Brewster provides service between the Calgary Airport and Banff
. Brewster also provides service to Lake Louise and Jasper.

Effective October 31, 2018, Greyhound Canada has cancelled all services in Western Canada, which includes Calgary, citing low ridership.[11]

Regional

On-It Regional Transit provides scheduled bus service to commuter towns surrounding Calgary.[12] Commuter service is provided to Cochrane, Okotoks, and High River. On-It also provides a summer weekend and holiday service to Canmore and Banff, Alberta.

Rail

Passenger rail

Main article: Tower Centre

Calgary is also the largest Canadian city without intercity passenger service, as all Via Rail service to the city was terminated in the late 1980s and early 1990s by the Conservative government. Rail tours by Royal Canadian Pacific can be booked by private charter. Rocky Mountaineer pulled out some years back and now runs only from Banff, Alberta westward.

Freight

Calgary has four main

CPR Alyth Yard
, where many of these feeder lines connect to the main lines.

Bicycle and pedestrian

See also: Sport in Calgary

The City of Calgary also maintains a network of paved multi-use pathways (for

bicycling, roller skating and jogging). The dedicated pathway network in Calgary is among the most expansive in North America and spans 900 km (560 mi). There are also about 345 km (214 mi) of signed on-street bicycle routes.[13] The pathways connect many of the city's parks, river valley, residential neighbourhoods, and downtown. Calgarians make year-round use of these paths for walking, running, and cycling to various destinations. In June 2013, massive flooding destroyed much of the pathway system (including many pedestrian bridges) along the Elbow and Bow
rivers. Most repairs are complete.

Calgary's system of elevated walkways or

The Core Shopping Centre
). The system is 16 km (9.9 mi) long.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Comparing Calgary With New York". Archived from the original on December 6, 2007.
  2. C-Train
  3. ^ "LRT Technical Data". Archived from the original on July 6, 2006.
  4. ^ "Calgary Transit and the Environment". Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  5. ^ West LRT in Calgary Main Website
  6. ^ "Calgary Transit Statistics". Archived from the original on July 7, 2006.
  7. ^ "The Odd History of Calgary's City Streets". SmartCalgaryHomes.com. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
  8. ^ "Calgary's Missing Street Names". UrbanPhoto.net. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
  9. ^ City of Calgary (February 2005). "The Calgary Transportation Plan". Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 25, 2007.
  10. ^ "Home Page for The Calgary Airport Authority". www.yyc.com. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  11. ^ "Alberta". Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  12. ^ "Schedules - On-It Regional Transit". On-It Regional Transit. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  13. ^ "Map of Bicycle pathways" (PDF). Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  14. ^ "The City of Calgary: Plus 15". www.calgary.ca. Archived from the original on August 29, 2007.

External links

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