Quote:
Originally Posted by Razor
So there is a bonafide freeway running through or past Calgary..Just not near the core?
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The first fully complete freeway was Deerfoot Trail in 2005. Construction started in the early 70's and then stalled in the early 80's. It runs a few km to the east of dt. It spans the entire north-south length of the city.
Two sort of freeways enter dt but are not thoroughfares. Memorial Drive connects the river on the east side or dt to Deerfoot. Bow Trail is a short connector from the west side of dt to Crowchild Trail. It has a single interchange.
Crowchild Trail runs a few km west of dt. It started construction in the mid 60s and has started and stopped a few times. It is not continuous as the section north of the river still has lights. It dead ends in the south at Glenmore Trail.
Glenmore Trail runs east west on what is Calgary's north-south acess, about 5 km south of dt. It started construction in the mid 60's and is still incomplete.
A section of Macleod Trail at the south end of the city is freeway for about 7km. One interchange opened in 1982, another in 1995, another in 2000, another in 2002 and the final in 2017.
A short section of Airport Trail connecting Deerfoot to the airport is currently upgrading to freeway.
Calgary's second freeway to actually complete will be the Stoney Trail ring road which encircles most of the city. Its 101 km will be fully free flow and open to traffic around 2022.
Several roads could easily upgrade to freeway, all well outside the inner city: Sarcee Trail, Anderson Road, McKnight Blvd, east section of Airport Trail connecting to Stoney Trail.
Calgary built very few freeway lane miles between the early 80's and early 2000's, and none prior to the mid 60's.