Alberta community action

Alberta ( al-BUR-tə) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories (NWT) to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south. It is one of the only two landlocked provinces in Canada (Saskatchewan being the other). The eastern part of the province is occupied by the Great Plains, while the western part borders the Rocky Mountains. The province has a predominantly continental climate but experiences quick temperature changes due to air aridity. Seasonal temperature swings are less pronounced in western Alberta due to occasional Chinook winds.

Alberta is the fourth largest province by area at 661,848 square kilometres (255,541 square miles), and the fourth most populous, being home to 4,262,635 people. Alberta's capital is Edmonton, while Calgary is its largest city. The two are Alberta's largest census metropolitan areas. More than half of Albertans live in either Edmonton or Calgary, which contributes to continuing the rivalry between the two cities. English is the official language of the province. In 2016, 76.0% of Albertans were anglophone, 1.8% were francophone and 22.2% were allophone.

Bike Calgary is a member-based, non-profit organization based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. With over 1,300 active members, it is the city’s largest advocacy group for utility cycling and active transportation.

Spanning over 1,000 km (620 mi), Calgary has the most extensive walking and cycling pathway network in North America. There are also 290 km (180 mi) of on-street bikeways and 96 km (60 mi) of publicly maintained trails. As of 2017, 140,000 Calgarians cycle at least once a week and about 400,000 cycle occasionally. 40% of cyclists in Calgary ride no matter how cold it gets and 96% ride when temperatures are above 0°. The Peace Bridge provides pedestrians and cyclists access to the downtown core from the north side of the Bow River. The bridge ranked among the top 10 architectural projects in 2012 and among the top 10 public spaces of 2012.

In the 1960s, Calgary started to develop a series of pedestrian bridges connecting many downtown buildings.

Today, these bridges connect between most of the city's downtown office towers and make up the world's most extensive skyway network (elevated indoor pedestrian bridges), officially called the +15. The system shields pedestrians from the city's extremely cold winter temperatures. The name derives from the fact that the bridges are usually 4.6 m (15 ft) above ground.