entrance sign along Gateway Boulevard. The roadways are the remnant of the northern terminus of the
Calgary and Edmonton Trail, a land transport route between the
fur trading posts of
Fort Edmonton and
Fort Calgary, used as far back as the early 1800s. The roadways were originally part of central
Strathcona and conformed to the former city's
quadrant numbering system, as such 104 Street (Calgary Trail) was known as
Main Street and was the division between the west and east quadrants (Whyte Avenue was the division between the north and south quadrants), while Gateway Boulevard was known as
1st Street E. In 1912, Edmonton and Strathcona amalgamated Edmonton adopted its present numbering system; Main Street was renamed as
104 Street while 1st Street E was renamed as
103 Street. As
Alberta's highway system developed, 104 Street became part of
Highway 1 (renumbered to
Highway 2 in 1941) to the 54 Avenue area before shifting to the southeast and continuing south along the
CP rail line Edmonton-Calgary line and aligned with 103 Street, going by the name of
Calgary Trail. The City of Edmonton commissioned the 1963 Metro Edmonton Transportation Study (METS) to address the need for free-flow traffic corridors and more river crossings in the downtown area. The plan proposed a downtown freeway loop with feeder routes, including three southern approaches via Calgary Trail,
111 Street, and
91 Street /
Mill Creek Ravine. The transition from 104 Street to Calgary Trail was converted to a
split intersection at 51 Avenue, and included partial access 103 Street, which had become a
collector road adjacent to the CP rail line. The freeway proposal through the
North Saskatchewan River valley and its feeder ravines proved to be very controversial, with
public protests suspending construction. In tandem with cost overruns, the majority of the project was cancelled in 1974. In the early 1980s, 103 Street, 104 Street, and Calgary Trail were converted to one-way streets, with 104 Street carrying southbound traffic while 103 Street and Calgary Trail (renamed as
Calgary Trail Northbound) carrying northbound traffic. As part of the project, a parallel, one-way roadway was constructed from the 104 Street / Calgary Trail transition to the 31 Avenue area and designated as
Calgary Trail Southbound. The split intersection at 51 Avenue was partially removed (now the site of a
Real Canadian Superstore) while the original transition alignment was designated as
54 Avenue. In 2001, Calgary Trail Northbound/103 Street and Calgary Trail Southbound were renamed as Gateway Boulevard and Calgary Trail respectively, initially the name change met with some controversy. Highway 2 used to enter Edmonton and abruptly transitioned from a freeway to an arterial roadway with traffic signals at Ellerslie Road and 23 Avenue; however the intersections were upgraded when interchanges were completed in 2001 and 2011 respectively. Calgary Trail and Gateway Boulevard have been synonymous with Highway 2 in Edmonton. Originally Highway 2 followed Calgary Trail and 104 Street to Whyte (82) Avenue before turning west to 109 Street, then crossing the High Level Bridge and eventually connecting with
St. Albert Trail. In the mid-1980s, in an effort to bypass downtown, the Highway 2 designation was moved to Whitemud Drive; however, "To Highway 2 south" guide signs still frequent Calgary Trail. == Future ==