16 Avenue NW

The Trans-Canada Highway in Alberta originates at the British Columbia border, where it proceeds east through Banff National Park to Calgary and becomes 16 Avenue NW. It enters the city as a freeway and remains as such through the far western portions. It first intersects Valley Ridge Boulevard / Crestmont Boulevard before a major interchange at Stoney Trail (Highway 201), a partial ring road the borders Calgary to the north and east. Signage recommending that traffic en route to the International Airport, Edmonton, and Medicine Hat use Stoney Trail as a bypass.^[3] It continues past Canada Olympic Park to an intersection at Bowfort Road, where construction of a single point urban interchange was completed on August 31, 2017.^[4] It passes along the southern boundary of the former town of Bowness and begins to descend into the Bow River valley where it intersects Sarcee Trail, an expressway providing a bypass option to Highway 2 south. 16 Avenue NW transitions from a freeway to a four-lane urban arterial road as it crosses the Bow River and the CPR mainline tracks. Between the city limits and Sarcee Trail, 16 Avenue NW separates the northwest and southwest quadrants of Calgary.^[5]

After crossing the Bow River, 16 Avenue NW passes through the former village of Montgomery after which it becomes a short expressway that crosses Bowness Road (signed as Memorial Drive for eastbound traffic), Shaganappi Trail, and exits the Bow River valley. It passes the Alberta Children's Hospital and Foothills Medical Centre before crossing University Drive, which provides access to the University of Calgary, McMahon Stadium, and access to southbound Crowchild Trail. After crossing Crowchild Trail, it becomes a six-lane urban arterial road with numerous signalized intersections and extensive, increasingly dense commercial development. It passes Motel Village, a cluster of motels which were constructed due to its proximity to the Trans-Canada Highway, which is accessible via a signalized service road and Banff Trail, which also doubles as the access road northbound Crowchild Trail. It passes by North Hill Centre (Calgary's first shopping mall),^[6] 14 Street NW, and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) continuing east and intersects Centre Street, leaving the northwest quadrant.^[5]

16 Avenue NE

At Centre Street, 16 Avenue NE enters the northeast quadrant and continues east, and intersects Edmonton Trail before descending the Nose Creek valley and intersects Deerfoot Trail (Highway 2) through a split-diamond interchange before it leaves the valley and intersects 19 Street NE. East of 19 Street NE, it becomes a short freeway, beginning with a cloverleaf interchange at Barlow Trail; the area is formerly known as Crossroads since it used to be the former alignment of Highway 2 - while the neighbourhood has since been renamed to Mayland Heights, some of the areas businesses still utilized the Crossroads name. 16 Avenue continues east with interchanges at 36 Street NE and 52 Street NE before intersecting 68 Street NE. It again intersects Stoney Trail, where westbound signage recommends that traffic en route to Banff, Edmonton, and Lethbridge use Stoney Trail as a bypass,^[7] before leaving Calgary and heading east towards Chestermere, Medicine Hat, and the Saskatchewan border.