Crowchild Trail

Crowchild Trail
Crowchild Trail highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by City of Calgary
Length:	22.0 km (13.7 mi)
Major junctions
South end:	Linden Drive SW
	Glenmore Trail Bow Trail Memorial Drive 16 Avenue NW Shaganappi Trail Stoney Trail
North end:	Twelve Mile Coulee Road
Location
Major cities:	Calgary
Highway system
Provincial highways in Alberta

Crowchild Trail is a major expressway in west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The segment from 12 Mile Coulee Road to 16 Avenue NE (Trans-Canada Highway, Highway 1) is designated as Highway 1A by Alberta Transportation.

Crowchild Trail's south terminus is located at North Glenmore Park as a minor arterial road. Exiting northbound from the park the road intersects several residential streets within the communities of Lakeview and North Glenmore Park, and several residential dwellings are located on the Trail itself. Continuing northward, its first major intersection is with Glenmore Trail at an interchange that was built in 1981, which is the point at which Crowchild becomes an freeway. After an interchange was completed at 50th Avenue SW in 2003, Crowchild Trail became a true freeway from Glenmore Trail to Kensington Road NW, with overpasses at Flanders Avenue SW, 33 Avenue SW and 17 Avenue SW and interchange intersections with 10 Avenue SW, Bow Trail and Memorial Drive. The speed limit on the freeway sections are 80 km/h (50 mph).

Traffic slows immediately north of the Bow River (dropping to a principal arterial with a 60 km/h (37 mph) limit), with signal-controlled intersections at Kensington Road NW and 5th Avenue NW, and heavy use by football fans and transit users at McMahon Stadium and students of the University of Calgary. After 24 Avenue NW the road veers northwest, and once again becomes an uninterrupted freeway until the Stoney Trail ring road. As of 2012, the interchange was completed at Stoney Trail, which makes Crowchild Trail a freeway nearly to the city limits, at which point (following a signalized intersection with Twelve Mile Coulee Road), Crowchild Trail continues as Bow Valley Trail, eventually linking to the towns of Cochrane and Canmore.