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 (of which only half is built up) and a metropolitan area of nearly . This outward growth has encouraged the development of an extensive personal vehicle-oriented road network complete with a freeway system.
Since 1981, when the city officially opened the first leg of its CTrain rapid transit system, emphasis on public transportation as an alternative to cars has become important. The CTrain has the second-highest light rail system ridership of any North American city, only slightly behind 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
Calgary's primary public transportation system is operated by Calgary Transit. The service operates only within Calgary city limits and does not provide transportation to and from other communities within the 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
The light rail transit (LRT) system, known as the CTrain, consists of of track connecting 45 stationsCTrain and was the second of such systems built in North America. Until very recently, Calgary and Edmonton were the only two North American cities with populations under two million to operate rapid mass transit systems. As of August 2024, there are two lines in operation, with a third line under construction. All the lines pass through downtown near their midpoints. The routes are as follows: Name Route Start terminus End terminus Stations Red Line 201 Tuscany Somerset-Bridlewood 27 Blue Line 202 Saddletowne 69 Street 26 Green Line 203 Under construction; first stations to open in 2031
Travel between stations along 7th Avenue in downtown is free-of-charge. Unique to the CTrain system, its power is 100% wind generated and completely free of emissions. The extension of the Blue Line into west Calgary was completed in 2012 and is the most recent section of the network to open.West LRT in Calgary Main Website
Buses
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 4 major "MAX" express bus routes and over 160 shorter community bus routes that connect to C-train Stations and MAX lines with the whole system stretching over .
Roads and streets Calgary has an extensive street network. Smaller roads are supplemented with a number of major arteries, expressways and freeways. The majority of main expressways and freeways are named Trails, as well as some of the main arterial roads that do not fit in the numbering grid. The use of the term Trails to describe major highways resulted from the development of early pioneer trails into the highways themselves. The original trails were named after the settlements to which they lead; for example, Edmonton Trail (part of the former Calgary and Edmonton Trail), (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.
Provincial freeways Two freeways within the City of Calgary are wholly controlled and maintained by Alberta's Ministry of Transportation with the city sometimes offering joint funding to construct interchanges with municipal roads. They have the highest construction standards, speed limits of at least ( on Deerfoot Trail both south of the 212th Avenue northbound exit, and north of Beddington Trail & 11th Street NE) and provided key connections to the rest of the provincial highway network.
Deerfoot Trail (Alberta Highway 2). A 46.4 km major north-to-south freeway in eastern Calgary that forms a key segment of Highway 2, the provinces main north-to-south highway and a key part of the CANAMEX Corridor. The first section of the roadway opened in 1971 originally named as Blackfoot Trail, later renamed to its current name to honour Deerfoot Bad-Meat in 1974 with the south terminus at 16th Avenue NE (Exit 258), later extended to 17th Avenue SE (Exit 254), then getting extended again to Glenmore Trail (Exit 248), and finally majorly extended to Stoney Trail (Exit 234) (in the south) but the whole route was not rendered a freeway until the last signal light was removed in 2005, officially making traffic in the major road entirely free-flowing, but there was more construction to come from the mid-2000s to today.
Stoney Trail (Alberta Highway 201). A 101 km long free flowing ring road that completely encircles most of Calgary and serves as a bypass for traffic wishing to avoid the core areas of the city if they are congested. Provides links to many important provincial highways such as Highway 1, Highway 1A, Highway 8 and Alberta Highway 22X most of which lack high speed connections through the city as well as serving as bypass to Deerfoot Trail. The highway opened in 6 phases from late 1995 to December 31st 2023 (first was the northwest part (1995-2009), then the northeast part (2009), southeast part (2013), north southwest part (2020), south Southwest part (2021), and finally the west part (2023)).
Skeletal roads
Skeletal roads is the highest designation of road made by the City of Calgary with no clarification being made between controlled access freeways and expressways with spaced out signal lights. Speed limits range from 70 to on these roadways, with freeway conversions being planned on all of the routes.
Significant sections of controlled access freeways are
Crowchild Trail, the main north–south route in Western Calgary, running between the city limits and Glenmore Trail. Two freeway sections in south and north separated by a section with four closely spaced signal lights just north of the Bow River. These signal lights are eventually planned to be replaced with interchanges to render the whole route as Calgary’s potential third or fourth freeway.
Macleod Trail, north–south route in south Calgary. The skeletal-road-designated section between 14th Street and Stoney Trail is a full freeway, and the rest of the route is highly signalized arterial road, there are likely plans to make Macleod Trail a full freeway (it could potentially be the fifth freeway and possibly the final required one).
Sarcee Trail (south section only), a north–south route in west Calgary. It contains three interchanges interspaced with two signal lights with plans for interchanges at all junctions.
Glenmore Trail, the only east–west skeletal road that runs the whole width of Calgary. It runs south of downtown between Stoney Trail in west Calgary and Stoney Trail in east Calgary. While fully a freeway west of the Deerfoot, the eastern section still contains three spaced-out signal lights, but full freeway conversion is eventually planned (Glenmore could be the third or fourth road to be completed as a freeway after Deerfoot, Stoney and possibly Crowchild respectively).
Memorial Drive, serves as a spur into Downtown Calgary from Deerfoot Trail. Only the section between the Reconciliation Bridge and Deerfoot Trail is designated as a skeletal road, with the rest of Memorial Drive being a slower-moving parkway.
16 Avenue N carries the Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) designation. Only the short section between Stoney Trail West and Sarcee Trail and the section east of the Deerfoot are considered skeletal roads and contain interchanges. The heavily signalized section of 16th Avenue through north-central Calgary is designated as an urban boulevard and is never intended to be upgraded to a freeway.
Airport Trail, an east–west road in northeast Calgary whose freeway section serves as spur route from Deerfoot connecting to the Calgary International Airport. The whole route is eventually intended to be upgraded to a freeway.
Bow Trail is a unique case because it contains a significant freeway section between Crowchild Trail and Downtown Calgary but is designated as only an arterial road, which is strictly non-limited access in definition. This is because the city intends for eventually freeway removal on this section of Bow Trail as part of the West Village Redevelopment Plan.
Skeletal roads that do not included significant sections of freeway included Shaganappi Trail, Barlow Trail, Anderson Road, Beddington Trail, 14 Street W, John Laurie/McKnight Boulevard and Peigan Trail.
Municipal roads Excluding the provincial freeways and the skeletal roads other roads defined in the Calgary Transpiration Plan include.
Arterial roads, major signalized roads with 4 to 8 lanes, the most common major road in the city. New arterial roads always include sidewalks on both sides of the road, left turning bays, green buffers, bus bays and Bike lanes or shared-use paths However older arterial roads often lack many of these features, and are only slowly being implemented when major road upgrades occur. Examples include Country Hills Boulevard, 17 Avenue (west portion) and 69th Street W.
Parkways, midsized two-to-four-lane roads that are often near natural areas and seek to encourage green, high-quality natural design such as large green buffers and are often closed to truck traffic. They also seek to have active transportation routes near them and aim to slow car traffic. Examples include Memorial Drive west of Centre Street, Canyon Meadows Drive and Elbow Drive.
Urban boulevards, major heavily signalized two-to-six-lane roads that are similar to arterial roads but instead contain more signal lights, wider sidewalks and better-quality urban design such as fancy light posts and public art. Unlike arterial roads they also often allow on-street parking. The city seeks to line this category of road with high-density development and small businesses and make them major transit routes such as for the MAX transit system. Examples include the central portion of 16 Avenue N, of Centre Street and Macleod Trail near downtown.
Neighbourhood collectors are small two-lane roads that often feature bike lanes and on-street parking. Their purpose is to connect the major city roads to neighbourhoods and homes rather than facilitate longer-distance travel. Unlike the roads mentioned above, these small roads are built and planned by the developers rather than the city, although the latter is responsible for long-term maintenance.
Naming system