Memorial Drive (Calgary)

Memorial Drive

Memorial Drive seen from the Zoo bridge
Maintained by	City of Calgary
Length	14 km (9 mi)
Location	Calgary
West end	Crowchild Trail
Major junctions	10 Street NW Centre Street Edmonton Trail Deerfoot Trail (Hwy 2) Barlow Trail 36 Street E 52 Street E 68 Street E
East end	Abbeydale Drive

Memorial Drive looking east from 17 St NW

' Holodomor Monument near Memorial Drive (Calgary) at Edmonton Trail, Dedication: "Eternal Remembrance. In memory of many millions of Ukrainians who perished in the genocidal great famine inflicted upon Ukraine by the Soviet Regime 1932-1933. "Let us all stand on guard against tyranny, violence and inhumanity."

Memorial Drive (formerly Sunnyside Boulevard) is a major road in Calgary, Alberta. Aside from its important role in city infrastructure, the tree lined sides of Memorial Drive serve as a living testament to the many local soldiers who died during World War I and give it a parkway look on the western section.^[1] An active path system also runs along the south side of Memorial Drive, beside the banks of the Bow River. The Calgary Soldiers' Memorial forms part of an extensive renovation to Memorial Drive, which heightens the function of the road as a monument to the city's military.^[2] The Landscape of Memory Project began in 2004, in order to revitalize a nine kilometre stretch of the road.^[3] The design incorporated "Poppy Plaza" at the corner of Memorial Drive and 10th Street NW. The plaza used "weathered steel" to create large gateways, and the plaza and adjacent river walk were lined with the same rusted metal into which quotes about the Canadian experiences of war were cut.^[4] The Peace Bridge was incorporated into the remembrance theme of Memorial Drive, though there are no explanatory plaques at the site of the bridge.

Memorial Drive officially begins at an interchange with Crowchild Trail in the northwest, serving as an eastern extension of Parkdale Boulevard (which, along with 3 Avenue NW, is an extension of the arterial connector Bowness Road), though the signage at 16 Avenue NW shows eastbound Bowness Road as Memorial Drive. The road continues east as a divided parkway until it passes the dual-intersection with 4 Street NE and Edmonton Trail at which point it becomes a freeway until Deerfoot Trail, where it downgrades to an at-grade expressway. Westbound traffic is offered a flyover into downtown at the 4th/Edmonton intersection. At this point the C-Train runs along the median of the split road, beginning with the Bridgeland/Memorial Station. After passing Barlow Trail, the road downgrades to a major arterial with the C-Train turning north along 36 Street E/Métis Trail after the Franklin Station. Memorial is then downgraded to traffic signalized intersections and continues east to 68th Street N.E., where it downgrades once again to a residential street for its last few blocks to its present terminus at Abbeydale Drive.

City planners have made provisions for Memorial Drive to eventually connect with Stoney Trail. East of 36 Street E,^[5] Memorial Drive serves as the boundary between the Northeast and Southeast quadrants of the city.

Major intersections[]

From west to east.^[6] The entire route is in Calgary.

km	mi	Destinations	Notes
−2.3	−1.4	Continues as Bowness Road towards 16 Avenue NW (Hwy 1) • West end of 3 Avenue NW
		37 Street NW	At-grade (traffic signals)
−1.7	−1.1	32 Street NW	At-grade (traffic signals)
		East end of 3 Avenue NW • West end of Parkdale Boulevard
−1.3	−0.81	29 Street NW – Foothills Medical Centre	At-grade (traffic signals)
−0.65	−0.40	Kensington Road	At-grade; alternate access to Crowchild Trail
0.0	0.0	Crowchild Trail	Grade separated
		East end of Parkdale Boulevard • West end of Memorial Drive
0.7	0.43	19 Street NW	At-grade; no eastbound exit
1.5	0.93	14 Street W	Grade separated; eastbound to southbound exit, northbound to westbound entrance.
2.1	1.3	10A Street NW	Westbound right in/right out; westbound access southbound 10 Street NW
2.2	1.4	10 Street NW – City Centre (via Louise Bridge)	At-grade (traffic signals); left turns prohibited
2.6	1.6	9 Street NW	At-grade (traffic signals)
4.2	2.6	Centre Street Bridge (lower deck) – City Centre	At-grade (traffic signals); no access to Centre Street
5.0	3.1	4 Street NE – City Centre (via Langevin Bridge)	At-grade (traffic signals); southbound one-way; connects to 4 Avenue SW
5.1	3.2	Edmonton Trail	At-grade (traffic signals); northbound one-way; west end of expressway
5.3	3.3	4 Avenue SW – City Centre (via 4th Avenue Flyover)	Westbound exit only; C-Train enters median
5.9	3.7	9 Street NE	Westbound right in/right out.
		Passes Bridgeland/Memorial station
6.5	4.0	St. Georges Drive – Calgary Zoo, Telus Spark	Diamond interchange; eastbound access Zoo Road
6.9	4.3	Passes Zoo station
7.5	4.7	Deerfoot Trail (Hwy 2) – Airport	Split diamond interchange (traffic signals); exit 256 on Hwy 2
8.0	5.0	19 Street NE	Westbound right-in/right-out
8.4	5.2	Passes Barlow/Max Bell station
8.7	5.4	Barlow Trail	Partial cloverleaf interchange
9.2	5.7	Passes Franklin station
9.6	6.0	28 Street SE	At-grade (traffic signals)
10.0	6.2	33 Street NE	Westbound exit only; C-Train exits median
10.3	6.4	36 Street E – Marlborough Mall, Marlborough station	At-grade (traffic signals); east end of expressway
10.7	6.6	Marlborough Way / 39 Street SE – Marlborough Mall	At-grade (traffic signals)
11.2	7.0	44 Street E	At-grade (traffic signals)
12.2	7.6	52 Street E	At-grade (traffic signals)
13.2	8.2	Penbrook Drive / Madigan Drive	At-grade (traffic signals)
13.6	8.5	68 Street E	At-grade (traffic signals)
13.9	8.6	Abbeydale Drive	At-grade
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access       Route transition

See also[]

Route map:

• Transportation in Calgary

References[]