Transportation in Calgary

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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 702 km² (of which only half is built up) and a metropolitan area of nearly 5 100 km². 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 now has a higher ridership than any other light rail system in any other North American city with 268 000 boardings per weekday. 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.

Contents

[edit] Public transportation

Main article: Calgary Transit

Calgary's primary public transportation system is operated by Calgary Transit. The service operates only within Calgary city limits and does not yet provide transportation to and from other communities within the Calgary Region. However, some of the 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.

[edit] Light rail

Main article: C-Train
Calgary's C-Train system.
Calgary's C-Train system.

The light rail transit (LRT) system, known as the C-Train, consists of 42.1 km of track connecting 36 stations and was one of the first such systems in North America [1]. Until very recently, Calgary and Edmonton were the only two North American cities with populations under one million to operate rapid mass transit systems. The McKnight-City Centre line serves downtown and the Northeast, while the Dalhousie-Somerset line runs between the Northwest and South Calgary via Downtown. 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.

[edit] 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 three C-Train lines (two routes), stretching over 4,500 km [2].

[edit] Roads and streets

Calgary has an extensive street network. Smaller roads are supplemented with a number of major arteries, expressways and freeways. The largest of these is the north-south running Deerfoot Trail. 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).

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 public transportation infrastructure in North American cities.

[edit] Organization

Memorial Drive looking west from the Zoo bridge
Memorial Drive looking west from the Zoo bridge

Traditionally Calgary's roads were built on a grid system with numbered Streets (running north-south) and Avenues (running east-west). The city is divided into four 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.

[edit] Major streets

Calgary road network
Calgary road network

[edit] Skeletal road network

The city of Calgary designated major corridors to allow free flowing travel continuity throughout the city.[3]

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

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

[edit] Air

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

The Calgary International Airport (ICAO Code CYYC, IATA Code YYC) is the only international airport in the Calgary Region and one of only two in the province. The airport is a hub for WestJet Airlines and a regional hub for Air Canada (and other Star Alliance members). In total, about 30 passenger airlines have regular scheduled flights to and from the airport. It is also a major hub for several cargo airlines including DHL, FedEx, Purolator, and United Parcel Service.

The airport primarily serves the Canadian prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) for connecting flights to British Columbia, Eastern Canada, 15 major American centres, nine European airports, and four destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean [4].

Calgary International Airport saw 10.2 million passenger movements in 2005. In December of that same year, it was the fourth busiest airport in Canada after Toronto Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport and Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

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.

[edit] Rail

[edit] Passenger rail

Calgary is also the largest Canadian city without an Intercity Passenger Service, as all VIA Rail service to the city was terminated in the late 1980s and early 1990s by the Conservative government. The Rocky Mountaineer and Royal Canadian Pacific rail tours serve Calgary from the former VIA Rail station. Future rail investments could include:

  • Future high speed rail
  • Possible future commuter rail

[edit] Freight

Calgary has four main CPR and CN Rail lines that traverse the city, in addition to the various feeder lines that run through the industrial parks in the eastern half of the city. One of the rail structures in Calgary is the CPR Alyth Yard, where many of these feeder lines connect to the main lines.

[edit] Bicycle and pedestrian

See also: Sport in Calgary

The City of Calgary also maintains a network of paved multi-use pathways (for bicycle, roller skating and jogging). The dedicated pathway network in Calgary is among the most expansive in North America and spans 635 km. There are also about 290 km of signed on-street bicycle routes [5]. The pathways connect many of the city's parks, river valley, residential neighbourhoods, and downtown. Even the airport is on the pathway network. Calgarians make year-round use of these paths for walking, running, and cycling to various destinations. In June 2005, 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 skyways downtown (known as the +15 system) is the most extensive in the world.[citation needed] These walkways not only serve to connect buildings, but also contain restaurants, shops, and services. The system is 16 km long.

[edit] References

  1. ^ LRT Technical Data
  2. ^ Calgary Transit Statistics
  3. ^ City of Calgary (February 2005). The Calgary Transportation Plan. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
  4. ^ Calgary International Airport
  5. ^ Map of Bicycle pathways

[edit] External links

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