Construction on phase two of Stampede Trail, along with utility work for Scotia Place has begun, and with it significant road and sidewalk closures in the Culture and Entertainment District.
The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) announced on March 17 that intermittent closures would begin on 14 Avenue SE and Stampede Trail through to early April, that would affect both vehicle and pedestrian access accessing the Saddledome and Stampede Park from the north.
Emma Stevens, Director of Communications and External Relations for CMLC said that detours would continue throughout 2025 and beyond, as $2 billion in city building work is undertaken in the district.
“This is a long term city building vision, and we have lots of work to do here.”
“We’ll see a range of detours, enclosures in place through the spring. We will wind down construction on the roads in time for Rotary and for the Stampede, as we typically do just to make sure that folks can get to their conference and Stampede on time as planned, but we do expect that construction to ramp back up right after Stampede as we finish building out the 2025 season of construction.”
Those detours, she said, are expected to return to the area in late July.
Calgarians looking to access the area have been asked to consider using Calgary Transit via the newly completed Victoria Park/Stampede LRT Station, parking and walking from the Platform Parkade on 9 Avenue SW, entering Stampede Park from the 17 Avenue SE extension/Flores LaDue Parade, or from the south Stampede Park entrance on 25 Avenue SE.
Liz Whittaker, Director of Building Operations for the Calgary Sport and Entertainment Corporation, said that the work being undertaken as a result of the closures was essential to transforming the Culture and Entertainment District and for the completion of Scotia Place.
“There’s going to be some changes as we work towards building this fantastic building that you can see behind us coming out of the ground.”
“We need to make sure that our customers really, truly understand that this is an ongoing process. There will be disruption as over the next few years as we go towards the final build. So that’s where we really want the support of our fans, and the understanding of them.”
She said that outside of the roadworks being done to complete phase two of Stampede Trail, significant and essential utility work was being undertaken to facilitate further construction of Scotia Place.
“We really encourage our customers to take a look at the website. Plan to arrive early if you possibly can… there’s lots going on at the dome for our games, lots for people to come and take advantage of and be part of.”
Stevens said that all of the road and pathway closure information for the district would be posted to CMLC’s map at map.cedistrict.com.
Specific travel information for visitors looking to attend events at the Saddledome can be found at www.scotiabanksaddledome.com.
