Province promises almost Half Billion Dollars to expand Calgary’s Deerfoot Trail

Duane Rolheiser

Published

6 years ago

4 minute read

Minister Mason, with Service Alberta Minister Brian Malkinson, announces a $478 million investment in Deerfoot Trail.

From the Province of Alberta

Deerfoot Trail upgrades to create jobs, cut commute

The Government of Alberta is expanding Deerfoot Trail to create jobs, ease congestion and reduce commute times.

Deerfoot Trail is the busiest roadway in Alberta with an average of 175,000 vehicles travelling on it every day. The province is adding both northbound and southbound lanes to 21 kilometres of Deerfoot Trail between Beddington Trail and Anderson/Bow Bottom Trail, to improve traffic flow and ease congestion.

Multiple interchanges will also be upgraded with additional lanes at Memorial Drive, 17 Avenue, Glenmore Trail, Southland Drive and Anderson/Bow Bottom Trail to reduce commute times at key bottlenecks.

“Deerfoot Trail is the busiest road in Alberta, and a vital artery for Calgary. It has become increasingly congested, and everyone who drives this road will appreciate this expansion plan. We want commuters to spend less time in traffic, and more time with their families and loved ones.”

Brian Mason, Minister of Transportation

Calgarians rely on Deerfoot Trail as the city’s most used north-south vehicle corridor. This major infrastructure project will transform Deerfoot Trail into a modern freeway that meets the current and future needs of a growing, active city.

“These improvements to Deerfoot Trail have been long awaited by Calgarians. This substantial investment from the Government of Alberta will go a long way in improving the traffic flow and safety on a roadway that is used by thousands of Calgarians every day.”

Naheed Nenshi, mayor, City of Calgary

This major expansion builds upon work already underway to optimize traffic flow on Deerfoot Trail. In early 2019, the province issued a Request for Proposals for engineering of a new Intelligent Transportation System to help ease congestion by employing variable speed limit technology and new message boards to alert commuters of expected travel times and incidents ahead.

The expansion of Deerfoot Trail is expected to create 2,330 jobs, and $478 million has been allocated in the Capital Plan for the project.

Quick facts

An initial study released in 2017 made recommendations for short-term improvements to Deerfoot Trail, including:
- New Intelligent Transportation System
- New interchange improvements at:
  - McKnight to 64 Avenue ramp connection
  - 11 Street northbound connection to Deerfoot, north of Beddington
  - Southland Drive to Anderson/Bow Bottom Trail
In early 2019, the Government of Alberta issued a Request for Proposals for engineering and design work for short-term improvements to Deerfoot Trail.
The Government of Alberta and the City of Calgary are engaged in a long-term study of Deerfoot Trail that will be finalized this year. The core initial findings suggest:
- Additional lanes northbound and southbound between Beddington Trail and Anderson/Bow Bottom Trail are required to meet growing traffic demands.
- Major interchange improvements are required at Memorial Drive, 17 Avenue, Glenmore Trail, Southland Drive and Anderson/Bow Bottom Trail to reduce commute times and improve traffic flow.
Deerfoot Trail first opened to the public in 1971. It has been a full freeway since 2005.
- When the road was built to its present configuration in 2005, Calgary had one million residents.
- The population of Calgary is now approaching 1.3 million, excluding the rapidly growing populations of Airdrie and Chestermere.

Related Topics:Calgary Deerfoot Trail Province of Alberta

Up Next

Strathcona County RCMP seek public assistance in historical fatal hit and run

Don't Miss

Police warning to families: Too much detail in obituaries can lead to identity fraud

Duane Rolheiser

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

Follow Author

Carney Wins: What now Alberta?

Dan McTeague / 2 days ago

My fellow boomers, Carney’s ‘Green’ obsessions are bad for all of us!

2025 Federal Election / 6 days ago

Polls say Canadians will give Trump what he wants, a Carney victory.

Alberta

Premier Danielle Smith hints Alberta may begin ‘path’ toward greater autonomy after Mark Carney’s win

Published on April 30, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Alberta’s premier said her government will be holding a special caucus meeting on Friday to discuss Alberta’s independence.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith hinted her province could soon consider taking serious steps toward greater autonomy from Canada in light of Mark Carney and the Liberal Party winning yesterday’s federal election.

In a statement posted to her social media channels today, Smith, who is head of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party, warned that “In the weeks and months ahead, Albertans will have an opportunity to discuss our province’s future, assess various options for strengthening and protecting our province against future hostile acts from Ottawa, and to ultimately choose a path forward.”

“As Premier, I will facilitate and lead this discussion and process with the sincere hope of securing a prosperous future for our province within a united Canada that respects our province’s constitutional rights, facilitates rather than blocks the development and export of our abundant resources, and treats us as a valued and respected partner within confederation,” she noted.

While Smith stopped short of saying that Alberta would consider triggering a referendum on independence from Canada, she did say her government will be holding a “special caucus meeting this Friday to discuss this matter further.”

“I will have more to say after that meeting is concluded,” she noted.

Smith’s warning comes at the same time some pre-election polls have shown Alberta’s independence from Canada sentiment at just over 30 percent.

Monday’s election saw Liberal leader Mark Carney beat out Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre, who also lost his seat. The Conservatives managed to pick up over 20 new seats, however, and Poilievre has vowed to stay on as party leader, for now.

In Alberta, almost all of the seats save two at press time went to conservatives.

Carney, like former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before him, said he is opposed to new pipeline projects that would allow Alberta oil and gas to be unleashed. Also, his green agenda, like Trudeau’s, is at odds with Alberta’s main economic driver, its oil and gas industry.

The Carney government has also pledged to mandate that all new cars and trucks by 2035 be electric, effectively banning the sale of new gasoline- or diesel-only powered vehicles after that year.

The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – an organization in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.

Smith: ‘I will not permit the status quo to continue’

In her statement, Smith noted that she invited Carney to “immediately commence working with our government to reset the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta with meaningful action rather than hollow rhetoric.”

She noted that a large majority of Albertans are “deeply frustrated that the same government that overtly attacked our provincial economy almost unabated for the past 10 years has been returned to government.”

Smith then promised that she would “not permit the status quo to continue.”

“Albertans are proud Canadians that want this nation to be strong, prosperous, and united, but we will no longer tolerate having our industries threatened and our resources landlocked by Ottawa,” she said.

Smith praised Poilievre for empowering “Albertans and our energy sector as a cornerstone of his campaign.”

Smith was against forced COVID jabs, and her United Conservative government has in recent months banned men from competing in women’s sports and passed a bill banning so-called “top and bottom” surgeries for minors as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.

Alberta

Hours after Liberal election win, Alberta Prosperity Project drumming up interest in referendum

Published on April 29, 2025

Todayville

News release from the Alberta Prosperity Project

Carney’s In. Now what?

You’ve been paying attention. You understand this is really bad. Worse than that, it’s dangerous. The country has somehow chosen several more years of a decade-long Trudeau Travesty…on steroids. Because this new Prime Minister has a three digit IQ, deep and questionable connections and a momentum to accelerate the further dis-integration of a nation we all once proudly belonged to. It’s untrue to say the country is dying. But it’s also not a stretch to say it’s on life support.

The era of Carney Carnage is here. While every province will experience it, there’s no secret he’s placed an extra big bulls-eye on Alberta.

It’s not personal, it’s financial.

His plan includes continuing to limit three of Alberta’s most prosperous sectors: energy, agriculture and, by extension, innovation. To acknowledge this requires we abandon our sense of romanticized national nostalgia. Nostalgia is a trap that prevents us from assessing the reality we exist in.

For instance, GDP is considered the financial heartbeat of a country. Over the past decade of Liberal Leadership, the national GDP has been an abysmal 1.1%. By relatable comparison, Mexico was 4%, the UK was 6%, Australia had 8% growth and the US was a whopping 19%.

That’s great information for an economist, but what does it mean to your pay cheque?

The everyday impact on the average Albertan —say, a teacher or mechanic— of 10 long years of 1% GDP means rent’s up at least 25%, a trip to the grocery store always stings, and driving an older car is the norm because an upgrade is out of reach. Does this sound like your reality?

We aren’t starving, but we’re not thriving, either.

Does this make sense for 4.5 million people living with the third most abundant energy deposits in the world? There’s an absurdity to the situation Albertans find themselves in. It’s akin to being chronically dehydrated while having a fresh water spring in the backyard.

The life you’ve invested for, the future you believed was ahead, isn’t happening.

If Alberta stays on this path.

So what can you, as an Albertan, do about it?

This Fall, we’ll be provided an opportunity. A life raft in the form of a referendum. It requires curiosity, imagination and courage to step into it, but the option will be there — a once in a lifetime shot at prosperity for you and your family: Alberta Sovereignty.

A successful bid means Albertans can finally paddle out of the perilous economic current that’s battered us for ten long years.

Alberta has the resources, talent and spirit of collaboration to create a prosperous future for our families and communities.
If you want your vote to finally mean something, if you feel you deserve more from your pay-cheque, grocery store visits and need greater control over your family’s future, register your intent to sign YES to sovereignty now.