A historic municipal landmark serving Calgarians for over 90 years.

A critically important piece of Calgary’s fresh water infrastructure, the Glenmore Dam is an important landmark structure, highly visible from many vantage points near and around the Glenmore Reservoir and by thousands of Calgary motorists as they transit the nearby Glenmore Trail causeway. The dam and its reservoir were completed in 1932 as part of the Glenmore Water Treatment Plant system, components of which are recognized both nationally and internationally as important historic structures. The Glenmore Water Treatment Plant is a registered historic resource. The City of Calgary recognized the Glenmore Dam as an important landmark and historic resource in 1992 and it is described in the city’s Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources.

For decades, the dam’s bridge deck conveyed motorists between the older inner city and newer southwest suburbs. Now, the deck exclusively serves pedestrians and cyclists as part of the City’s extensive regional pathway system, linking the parks, natural areas, dramatic headlands and estuaries of the Elbow River valley and Glenmore Reservoir.

The Glenmore Dam Refurbishment provided significant upgrades to the dam structure as part of the City’s future flood resiliency program. New steel spillway gates and an elevated hoist-way for the gates have been added along with dedicated maintenance access points. Upgrades also included replacing the deteriorating concrete bridge deck to provide an enhanced user experience for cyclists and pedestrians. To heighten the architectural presence of the dam during non-daylight hours and to extend its safety and enjoyment for pedestrians and cyclists, extensive lighting upgrades were also made to the bridge structure on the reservoir side and to the bridge deck and viewing areas.