Calgary — After almost five years of work, upgrades to the Glenmore Reservoir dam are complete and the public pathway atop the dam has reopened. The City of Calgary celebrated the finished project Friday morning with Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Minister of Alberta Environment and Parks Jason Nixon in attendance. The budgeted $82 million project will increase the city’s flood resilience along the Elbow River and fulfill drinking water needs as Calgary continues to grow in size. It will also provide more space for cyclists and pedestrians using the bridge deck. Work on overhauling the dam started in 2015 with the relocation of the utilities that ran along the bridge deck. In 2017, crews began replacing aging concrete and upgrading the dam’s stop-log system with higher steel gates including independent hoists to raise and lower the gates. The addition of the 21 steel gates will allow engineers to hold back much more water from the Elbow River and increases the reservoir’s storage by approximately 10 million cubic meters. Construction of the dam first began in 1930 and, following its completion three years later, the resulting reservoir provided drinking water to Calgarians. To learn more about the Glenmore Dam infrastructure improvements, click here.
