Calgary is Alberta’s largest city and Canada’s third-largest municipality. It was the first jurisdiction in Canada to officially adopt a Complete Streets policy within the Transportation Plan in 2009. A blog post highlights the release of Calgary’s 2014 Complete Streets Guide.
Calgary was included as a case study in TCAT’s Complete Streets Gap Analysis.
The City of Calgary Complete Streets Policy and Guide was adopted by Calgary City Council in September 2009. This made Calgary the first jurisdiction in Canada to officially adopt a Complete Streets policy.
The City of Calgary Complete Streets Policy and Guide is set up under the following categories:
Chapter 1: New Street Classifications
Chapter 2: Network Design Guidelines
Chapter 3: Street Design Guidelines
Chapter 4: Retrofit Street Design Guidelines and Processes
Chapter 5: New Street Design Standards
Chapter 6: Cost and Funding
Chapter 7: Implementation Strategy
The vision and intent of the Complete Streets Policy and Plan is clearly demonstrated by the four cases studies provided of 13 Avenue S.W., 10 Street N.W., 7 Street S.W., and Charleswood Drive N.W. (p. 93).
The Complete Streets Policy and Plan provides clear expectations by displaying the exacts costs for retrofitting street costs for different classifications of roads. The funding strategies listed in section 6.3 show there is a commitment to complete streets in all phases.
A section on performance measures is also included which tracks a 60-year target to ensure complete street policies will be implemented while managing the crucial link between transportation and land use, this also includes density and environmental sustainability (p. 126).
In April 2012, the The Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT), a project of Clean Air Partnership, released the Complete Streets Gap Analysis: Opportunities and Barriers in Ontario. The report included case studies on three Canadian municipalities that have made progress towards adopting Complete Streets: Thunder Bay, Waterloo, and Calgary. These case studies highlight that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to achieving Complete Streets, rather a variety of different strategies may work depending on community context. This research was made possible with funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
City Council approved the Calgary Transportation Plan (CTP) in September of 2009. The plan is broken down into three sections which look at how the CTP contributes to the overall vision for Calgary, implementation strategies through investment, and transportation policies.
One of the seven guiding principles mentioned throughout the CTP is to create complete streets under section 1.4 “The Sustainability Principles and Key Directions for Land Use and Mobility” (p. 16).
Section 3.7 specifically identifies transportation policy that focuses on complete streets and also provides detailed descriptions of Calgary’s road classification system.
The objective of the policy is to “increase the attractiveness, convenience and safety of all modes of transportation by creating a new selection of multi-modal streets that emphasize different modes of transportation, incorporate elements of green infrastructure and function in the context of surrounding land uses.” (p. 45).
The complete streets policy in section 3.7 is expanded on in the following categories below:
Section 3.7 also provides 22 complete street policies that provide the foundation of the complete streets policy and guide published in 2014.
City Council adopted the Municipal Development Plan in September 2009. “Create Complete Streets” is one of eight key directions for land use and mobility that are applied to city-wide policies throughout the plan, specifically in the following areas:
The plan refers to the complete streets policy and guidelines for details (published in 2014). Here are some specific polices that are included:
Section 2.5 of the Municipal Development Plan looks at connecting the city through transportation choices, transit networks, complete streets, and local transportation connectivity.
2.3.4 Parks, open spaces and outdoor recreation
