Getting you there: 21 projects we completed in 2017

With 2017 coming to a close, we’re finishing 21 transportation projects that will make getting around Calgary better today and for years to come. Work underway in all four quadrants results in city-wide improvement of traffic management, goods movement, transit reliability, and safe, comfortable travel for everyone. Here are the highlights:

Acting Director of Transportation Infrastructure, Kerensa Fromherz, goes into details, “It’s been a big year for us. The Glenmore Trail/Ogden Road and the Bowfort Trail/Trans-Canada Highway interchanges are key to improving how we move goods in and around Calgary. The new 12 Street S.E. bridge (opening celebration on Dec. 9!) means maintaining that Bow River crossing for another 100 years, plus it creates a much better pathway space. Our road upgrades on 1 Street S.W., 61 Avenue S.W., and at the 16 Avenue/Home Road N.W. intersection are in popular places, so the sidewalk and crossing upgrades mean a safer space for people walking and a more predictable space to drive.”

 Looking west at the new 61 Avenue S.W./Chinook pedestrian bridge (opening celebrations December 8!)

The 21 projects make up a $400 million investment to help manage traffic and help people move around the city. Fromherz explains, “We look at getting the best value for the investment not just for today, but how an interchange, like at Macleod Trail/162 Avenue, or an intersection upgrade, like at 16 Avenue/29 Street N.W., will work as development happens around it in the short and long term.” But it’s more than just value for the future: “We were also able to take advantage of the market to get good prices on material and put people to work,” Fromherz adds. More than 3,200 jobs were created by these projects.

Looking east at the redesigned Zoo Road, pathway and flood mitigation measures

With these transportation projects touching 30 communities, improvements are also happening at the community level. People living in the residential neighbourhoods around the Bowness Road, Northmount Drive and East Memorial road improvements now have a more comfortable place to walk and cycle in areas that can also be busy driving roads.

These projects, along with 223 km of new pavement on Calgary roads, help manage traffic better and connect people between their communities and destinations. Offering safe, affordable, and reliable options to travel around Calgary is important to developing and growing a resilient and vibrant city for decades to come.

See the full list of 2017 projects: