page_title: Deerfoot Trail
section_title: Predecessor highways
hierarchical_section_title: Deerfoot Trail / History / Predecessor highways
caption_attribution_description: English: Outline of old Deerfoot Trail routing in north Calgary.
context_page_description: Deerfoot Trail is a 46.4-kilometre freeway segment of Highway 2 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It stretches the entire length of the city from south to north and links suburbs to downtown via Memorial Drive and 17 Avenue SE. It also forms part of the CANAMEX Corridor which connects Calgary to Edmonton and Interstate 15 in the United States via Highways 3 and 4. The freeway begins south of Calgary where it splits from Macleod Trail, crosses the Bow River into city limits, and reaches the Stoney Trail ring road. Crisscrossing twice more with the river, it intersects Glenmore Trail and Memorial Drive; the former is a major east–west expressway while the latter is a freeway spur into downtown. In north Calgary, it crosses Highway 1 and passes Calgary International Airport before ending at a second interchange with Stoney Trail. Highway 2 becomes the Queen Elizabeth II Highway as it continues north into Rocky View County towards Edmonton.
  Originally called Blackfoot Trail Freeway upon the opening of the first section in 1971, it was renamed in 1974 to honour Deerfoot, a late 19th century Siksika Nation long distance runner known for his exceptional speed.
context_section_description: Prior to the completion of Deerfoot Trail, the historic alignment of Highway 2 in south Calgary was along Macleod Trail as an extension of 4 Street, parallel to a branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway from Calgary to Macleod. Macleod Trail has since been designated Highway 2A, on a routing largely the same as the original.  It is now a busy expressway connecting Midnapore and other southwestern suburbs to downtown. The southernmost portion of the route from Highway 22X to De Winton would continue to serve as Highway 2 until completion of a Deerfoot Trail extension from its then southernmost point at the neighbourhood of Cranston to De Winton in 2003.
  In north Calgary, Highway 2 was originally composed of four present-day routes: Edmonton Trail, 41 Avenue, 48 Avenue, and Barlow Trail. Edmonton Trail is now a busy urban street on the west bank of Nose Creek through the neighbourhood of Highland Park, but its alignment in the 1920s had it curving to the northeast across the creek along present-day 41 Avenue to 48 Avenue where it continued east past the airport to Barlow Trail and north to Edmonton as Highway 1, later renamed to Highway 2.
  By the 1960s, Highway 2 had been realigned to follow Macleod Trail until turning east at Glenmore Trail before continuing north on Blackfoot Trail, veering to the northeast, and crossing the Bow River to join Barlow Trail to the north city limit. The former Edmonton Trail was re-signed as Highway 2A.  As the airport continued to expand, 48 Avenue was reduced to an airport service road after the construction of McKnight Boulevard. Long after the completion and opening of Deerfoot Trail and its signing as Highway 2, the segment of Barlow Trail north of McKnight Blvd was closed in 2011 to allow construction of a new 14,000-foot (4,300 m) runway at Calgary International Airport.
caption: Highway 2 in Calgary in the late 1960s (red line) when it followed the alignment of present-day Macleod, Glenmore, and Blackfoot Trails, 17 Avenue SE, and Barlow Trail. The green line represents the present-day alignment of Deerfoot Trail.
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