As 2025 comes to a close, Bike Calgary has compiled a summary of the infrastructure changes and improvements that we’ve noticed around Calgary over the past year. Here’s a brief outline of what this blog will cover:
- Policy and/or funding changes implemented in the past year
- New dedicated cycling facilities
- New pathways and missing links
- Pathway refurbishment/reconstruction
- Bridges and other infrastructure
- Looking ahead to 2026
As this will already be a longer post, we won’t be getting into details on the quality of the infrastructure, missed opportunities, design features we like, etc. If you are interested in these topics, we’d love for you to join the Bike Calgary Infrastructure committee! Please send an email to volunteer@bikecalgary.org and we’ll connect you with the right people to learn more.
Policy and Funding Changes
A new City Council was elected in October 2025 with a large turnover from the previous council. As part of the annual budget review in November, the new council approved $7.5 million in additional funding to complete more road safety interventions, especially at intersections. LiveWire Calgary published a great summary article of this new funding and the recommended priority areas. Members of Bike Calgary’s volunteer group spoke at the 2025 budget public hearing in support of continued investment in expansion of the 5A network and reducing roadway injuries and fatalities. November 2026 will be a very important time for the new City Council, as they will amend and finalize the upcoming 4-year capital and operating budgets. Bike Calgary worked with other community groups on a campaign to encourage council to fund safer infrastructure in the previous 4-year budget (2022-2026). As a result of this substantial campaign and public submissions, $56 million was added to the current budget cycle. If you are interested in supporting advocacy to various orders of government for safer streets and transportation options, please consider joining the Bike Calgary Advocacy committee! You can email volunteer@bikecalgary.org and we’ll connect you with the right people to learn more.
New Dedicated Cycling Facilities
After several years of construction as part of the Marda Loop Main Streets program, the new infrastructure on 34 Avenue SW, 20 Street SW, and 22 Street SW is complete and open for use. This includes several different types of infrastructure:
- A separated two-way wheeling pathway on the south side of 34 Av between 20 St and 22 St (separate from pedestrians)
- A multi-use pathway on the south side of 34 Av between Crowchild Trail and 22 St, and between 20 St and 17 St SW (shared with pedestrians).
- Separate one-way wheeling paths on 20 St between 32 Av and north of 35 Av. These connect to the existing painted bicycle lanes on 20 St further north and south
- A multi-use pathway on 22 St SW between 32 Av and 34 Av SW
See below for a map of the different infrastructure types, with separated infrastructure in green, multi-use infrastructure in yellow, and existing painted bicycle lanes in orange.
Some of the new Marda Loop infrastructure was also featured at the start of @Shifter_Cycling’s new video on YouTube
In late fall 2025, the new cycle tracks / wheeling lanes on 15 Avenue South in the Beltline also opened for use. These include two-way street-level lanes separated by a concrete median between 11 St SW and 1 St SE, and a two-way raised wheeling pathway next to the sidewalk between 1 St SE and Macleod Trail SE.
- The wheeling lanes connect to the Victoria Park / Stampede LRT station at the east end, and intersect with various north-south bikeways through the Beltline
- This project was partially funded through the federal government’s Active Transportation Fund
See below for a video taken on 15 Avenue by @calgaryk on BlueSky:
A few other corridor projects have also substantially begun construction in 2025.
- 2 Avenue and 7 Avenue NW corridor improvements in Sunnyside are nearing completion, where separated on-street wheeling lanes are being built on each side of the road. This infrastructure will connect Sunnyside school with the surrounding community and the LRT station.
- 19 Street NW is also being re-built between Kensington Road and 5 Avenue SW to add separated wheeling lanes. 19 Street has seen a lot of redevelopment and densification in this area over the past few years, including new businesses along the street. This project will resume construction in spring 2026.
- 11 Street SE (Ramsay) and 12 Street SE (Inglewood) are being re-constructed to add more space for people including a two-way wheeling pathway separated from pedestrians between the Zoo Bridge and 21 Avenue SE. This replaces the temporary “adaptive roadway” infrastructure that was in place on these streets for several years. The project will resume construction in spring 2026.
8 Street SW in Downtown Calgary is being re-constructed in a multi-year project to support the growth in population downtown from new residential buildings and the office to residential conversion program.
New Shared / Multi-use Pathways
2025 was a substantial year for new pathways in Calgary, with a focus on missing links in the pathway network. According to the City’s website, over 12 kilometres of new pathways were constructed this year. We’ve highlighted a few of the more substantial projects below.
One of the highest profile pathway projects in the City is the Sunnyside Flood Barrier, which includes flood mitigation work and a reconstruction of the north Bow River pathway between the Prince’s Island Bridge (near the curling club & McHugh Bluff) and 14 Street NW. As of December 2025, the west portion of the new pathway is re-opened between 14 Street and 10 Street NW. Construction and closures are ongoing for the remainder of the pathway, but completion is expected in 2026.
In the northeast, a new pathway was built along 32 Avenue from 12 St to Barlow Trail NE, replacing a narrow sidewalk.
Also in the northeast quadrant, construction has begun on filling in a 2.45 km pathway gap on 68 Street SE between Abbotsford Drive N.E. and Applewood Drive S.E. Once complete, the east side of 68 Street will have almost 4 km of connected pathway, connecting communities like Monterrey Park, Abbeydale, and Applewood Park with the Rotary-Mattamy Greenway and regional destinations like Elliston Park.
In the southeast, new pathways on 36 Street SE and Memorial Drive are partially complete, connecting Radisson Heights and Forest Lawn to Marlborough. This is being completed at the same time as a repaving project on the adjacent roadways.
In the southeast communities of Lynnwood/Ogden and Riverbend, missing gaps in pathways on 18 Street SE have been completed between 66 Av SE and River Valley Drive, providing better pathway connections between schools, neighbourhoods, and commercial shopping destinations.
A key southwest pathway was also completed along 90 Avenue SW in 2025, connecting the Glenmore Landing Shopping Centre to South Glenmore Park west of 24 Street. This pathway provides a more direct route that can be used to bypass the often busy Glenmore Reservoir pathway, while also providing a direct connection to the 19 Street SW local bikeway.
In the southwest, construction is also wrapping up on the Sandy Beach Park Improvements with reconstruction of the Elbow River Pathway on the hill from Sandy Beach up to River Park in Altadore. The new pathway should provide a less steep route, smoother surface, and improved drainage from the old pathway, and it connects with recent improvements to the pathways along 50 Avenue SW.
A park and pathway project that did wrap up in 2026 is at Pumphouse Park on the Bow River near Sunalta. In addition to widening and repaving the main Bow River Pathway in 2024, a missing gap was filled in near the Pumphouse theatre, providing a continuous paved pathway for users coming to and from the railway crossing into Sunalta.
Pathway Refurbishment / Reconstruction
The City of Calgary currently maintains a $2-3 million dollar annual budget for “Pathways and Trails Lifecycle”. For comparison, the annual budget for roadway pavement rehabilitation is $54 million for 2025 and $64 million for 2026. Source: Page 72 of the 2026 council budget adjustments package. There is a lack of publicly available data of where the pathway lifecycle budget is spent each year, but an example of this for 2025 is the repaving of the north Bow River pathway between Kensington Road and . Previous years work included repaving and widening of pathways along the Bow River south of Carburn Park, the Glenmore Reservoir pathway along the community of Bayview, and the Western Headworks Canal pathway.
Under provincial jurisdiction, a major project to repave and widen the main pathway through Fish Creek Provincial Park is also continuing. Portions of pathway repaving between Mallard Point and Bow Bottom Trail are complete, and the project is expected to continue west through the park in 2026 and 2027.
Bridges and Other Infrastructure
Bridges form a key part of the pathway and bikeway network by providing safe and accessible routes over busy roads, rivers, and creeks. Many older bridges in the city include only a narrow sidewalk or no crossing option at all for people walking or wheeling, while some pedestrian bridges only include stairs or steep hairpin ramps that cannot be navigated with larger cargo bikes or bikes with trailers.
One of the more notable 2025 bridge projects is the Mission Bridge Rehabilitation, which was completed in October 2025. The re-opened bridge re-allocated space from vehicle travel lanes to construct wider shared pedestrian and bicycle walkways, and the project also reconstructed and improved a section of the Elbow River pathway west of 4 Street SW.
Another smaller bridge rehabilitation project was completed last winter along 41 Avenue NE near Edmonton Trail. The multi-use pathway along 41 Avenue has been upgraded and the bridge deck widened over Nose Creek. See below for a before photo from Google Street view and after photo from the project webpage.
Looking ahead to 2026
In addition to some under-construction projects mentioned above, there are many other bikeway corridor projects in the planning and design phase. Here are a few that we are hoping will have the construction phase get underway in 2026, including website links in case you’d like to learn more:
- 26 Avenue SW improvements, between 37 Street and 14 Street SW
- Phase 3 of the 50 Avenue SW pathway connecting Mount Royal University to Altadore and Sandy Beach Park
- 14 Avenue NW bridge over 14 Street, and the adjacent reconstruction of 14 Avenue to 24 Street NW through Hounsfield Heights / Briar Hill
Is there anything we missed? Calgary is a large city and we do our best to keep on top of the new infrastructure activity, but our members are the eyes and ears on the ground. Let us know!