Walkway from LRT to Chinook Centre to get $9M in improvements

Calgary is about to start construction on a major renovation of 61st Avenue S.W. between Chinook Centre and the nearby LRT station, with a focus on improving the pedestrian experience.

It will include wider sidewalks, new lighting and landscaping.

The area councillor, Brian Pincott, says the city is also talking with the mall's owner about a cost-shared new pedestrian bridge that could go outside the CIBC, across Macleod Trail, right into the mall.

"That intersection is the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and if you take a look at things like Boxing Day, there are over 100,000 people that walk from the C-Train station to Chinook Centre," Pincott said.

"100,000 people."

He said the pedestrian bridge could be cost-shared between the city and the mall owners.

"You couple the greenway, the improvement of 61st Avenue, with an overhead pedestrian overpass, and you have now taken what is the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and made it work much, much better for pedestrians."

Construction on the $9-million upgrade of 61st Avenue gets underway this month.

The city says work will be completed this fall but there's no timeline yet on the new pedestrian overpass.

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