Just in time for the peak of the holiday season, there is a new way to get to Calgary’s largest shopping centre.
Work on a new pedestrian bridge over Macleod Trail at 61 Avenue has just been completed and people can now cross the busy road with ease.
Construction began on the $13M project began in September 2016. The cost was shared between the City of Calgary and Cadillac Fairview, the corporation that owns Chinook Centre.
Officials say that $3M of the city’s portion was funded by the province’s municipal sustainability initiative.
The climate controlled, enclosed pedestrian bridge is over 400 feet long and aims to make it easier for people to cross the intersection of Macleod Trail and 61 Avenue S.W.
Paige O’Neill, general manager of CF Chinook Centre, who spoke ahead of a grand opening celebration on Friday night, calls the project the product of a great partnership with the City of Calgary.
“We’re pretty excited. We broke ground in September 2016 and we estimated we would be open the first week of December and we’ve make that goal with all of our partners.”
O’Neill says there is an incredible number of people who use the CTrain to get to the mall and this pedestrian bridge will help those Calgarians as well as drivers on Macleod Trail.
“I think this will become Chinook Centre’s number one entrance.”
Chinook Centre draws in about 14.8M visitors per year.
