Deerfoot Trail North - Calgary, Alberta - 2020/07/27

Drivelapse video of Highway 2 (Deerfoot Trail) northerly through Calgary, Alberta on a beautiful July morning
Video starts south of High River and progresses northerly through to north of Airdrie

[@xlbolt]

Great stuff! Calgary's highway network is some of the best in the country, and a blast to drive on during the empty off-peak hours. I have a video completed along Deerfoot coming up, though it won't be a month or two until it sees the light of day. But it was also filmed around the same time of morning, with the sun still peeking out of the horizon, pretty cool to see here!

[@SoulOfTech]

It’s definitely nice, thought I wouldn’t call it the best. I definitely think Southern Ontario and Quebec are far more robust with their series of highways.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Great, I look forward to seeing your take of the Deerfoot. I agree, I think Calgary has a pretty extensive freeway network. Particularly given its size

[@CrystalClearWith8BE]

The Deerfoot Trail forms a north-south backbone freeway through Calgary as a segment of AB 2 and it spans 46.4 km. Also, here's some good news. Recently, back in 2021, the southwest portion of AB 201/Stoney Trail is complete. Now, the western portion of it that links AB 1/TCH Main Route and AB 8 is still under construction and is expected to be complete by 2024.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Thank you for the comment

[@SlowedByMaple]

Welcome Back to Alberta! The Weather in this Video was Beautiful.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Thank you. It was a lovely day

[@jayiifulbackup393]

Very interesting scenery! Nice video

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Thank you

[@ryleyoconnor8010]

Chronological order in Alberta?

[@MrBodyguart]

Thank you very much for the beautiful video! I don't understand the traffic rules in Canada. Why is the third lane often closed just before the exit? It makes no sense, since the capacity is significantly reduced. In Germany, the lane will always end after the exit. Nice greetings from Germany.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

I agree, some of the lane drops on Hwy 2 are a little bit haphazard. I think it is a product of Hwy 2 being upgraded in a very piecemeal fashion over the years.

[@matthewbrezina2594]

I dont get it either. Considering the high taxes in Canada the road system is very lacking. And sadly Calgary actually has one of the better freeway systems in Canada. Vancouver has none at all while you have to use the ring road just to get through Edmonton and it has many more 2 lane sections then deerfoot.

[@brettthomas5605]

Most of this freeway was built some 30 to 45 years ago. Calgary has literally doubled in population during that time. Most of the newer sections were just tied into the old without any improves to the older sections. During the next three years Deerfoot Trail is getting some major improvements from the south end to the north end of city.

[@cityboyis2]

because most of our road engineers that work for the city come from England. I need not say more, except they enjoy restricting flow of traffic

[@Milnoc]

4:26, someone's engine blew. 4:34, finally pulled over.

[@RoadsOfAsiaBen]

Great drive! Why Canada does not have widespread freeway system like in the US?

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Canada’s population is far more regionally distributed in Canada than it is in the US. That, and a host of different political reasons and priorities.

[@otanakugaming3357]

I feel like unlike the US, most freeways were designed by the provinces rather than having an Interstate (Or Interprovince in Canada’s context) network of Freeway

[@smith22]

I think a documentary needs to be made about this. Other countries with federal governments and fiercely independent states / province / cantons (such as the USA, Germany, Switzerland) all have a federal system of freeways, complete with national numbering systems AND most importantly: a construction code to make freeways uniform throughout the country. Canada is also curious in not having at least one freeway connect all its territory.

[@sbclaridge]

Ontario's 400-series highways and Québec's Autoroute system are basically equivalent to the Interstate system. As for the rest of Canada, the population concentration tends to be much lower than in the Québec City-Windsor corridor. Alberta Highway 2 is mostly freeway between Calgary and Edmonton, although several at-grade intersections between Carstairs and Penhold remain. A RIRO (no crossover) also exists on northbound Highway 2 at Township Road 392 between Red Deer and Blackfalds per satellite imagery, but other than that, all of Highway 2 from north of Okotoks (beginning after the intersection at 4:41) to Carstairs, and again from Penfield to Edmonton, is a freeway. BC Highway 1 and the Coquihalla Highway serve as the longest continuous freeway in Western Canada, extending from North Vancouver to Kamloops; that said, the freeway classification of a small section near the Wahleach generating station (between Bridal Falls and Laidlaw) seems questionable.

[@matthewbrezina2594]

@@sbclaridge Alberta alone has more population then Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho combined. The fact we dont have a proper freeway system while these states all do with the much higher tax rates here is really annoying to me.

[@thevultrantransituniverse1487]

I wish I live in Calgary one day.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

Best of luck with that

[@khaitu2142]

Tuyệt vời

[@brainwells6634]

Why does Alberta looks a better version of North Dakota both of them are flat but Calgary is better than Fargo

[@DanielGarcia1980]

Greater Calgary has more people than both the Dakotas combined.

[@sbclaridge]

Alberta is definitely not as flat, obviously. Calgary has a wonderful setting at the western edge of the Prairies, not too far from the Rocky Mountains. Edmonton is surrounded by flatter terrain, but it has some terrain contrast along the North Saskatchewan River valley. Fargo has more in common with Winnipeg. Both are extremely flat due to their position on the former Lake Agassiz lakebed. Chicago is also extremely flat, and the same can be said for Gulf and Atlantic coastal plain cities like Houston, Tampa, Miami, Charleston, and the Hampton Roads region of SE Virginia.

[@AsphaltPlanet1]

That seems like a polite way of saying the prairies all look the same :)