Memorial Drive (formerly ''Sunnyside Boulevard'') is a major road in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. 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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and give it a

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...

look on the western section. An active path system also runs along the south side of Memorial Drive, beside the banks of the

Bow River The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These w ...

. The

Calgary Soldiers' Memorial The Calgary Soldiers' Memorial is a war monument in Calgary, Alberta that was dedicated on April 9, 2011, the anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The monument is dedicated to Calgary area soldiers who have given their lives in war and mil ...

forms part of an extensive renovation to Memorial Drive, which heightens the function of the road as a monument to the city's military. The Landscape of Memory Project began in 2004, in order to revitalize a nine kilometre stretch of the road. 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. The

Peace Bridge The Peace Bridge is an international bridge between Canada and the United States at the east end of Lake Erie at the source of the Niagara River, about upriver of Niagara Falls. It connects Buffalo, New York, in the United States to Fort Er ...

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

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 A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

until Deerfoot Trail, where it downgrades to an at-grade

expressway Expressway may refer to: * Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. * Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional s ...

. Westbound traffic is offered a flyover into downtown at the 4th/Edmonton intersection. At this point the

C-Train CTrain (previously branded C-Train) is a light rail rapid transit system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Most of the network functions as a light metro, though in the free-fare zone that runs through the downtown core the Red and Blue lines opera ...

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, Memorial Drive serves as the boundary between the Northeast and Southeast quadrants of the city.

Major intersections

From west to east.

References

{{Alberta Provincial Highways, Hwy=yes

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

Roads in Calgary

Major intersections

See also

References