Over the past 40 years approximately 3,000 kindergarten to grade 3 school children have attended the Safety City program in North Glenmore each year. The program provides pedestrian and bicycle traffic safety training in a classroom and outdoors using authentic road and traffic lights and conditions in a mini-townsite that includes exact replicas of Alberta heritage buildings.

Due to the City of Calgary’s requirement to begin permanently using our existing lease area for a construction laydown area for the Glenmore Water Treatment Plan Expansion Project by November 30th it is necessary that we move our program site. The City is currently assisting us in locating a new site, however the re-establishment of the Safety City program will require the following: (a) laying down a new road system resulting in the need for paving, curbs, and wheelchair accessible sidewalks – bike lanes will be included on the new site to expand programing for more users (e.g. 2-wheel bike safety for older children ages 9-15); (b) reinstalling traffic signals; (c) reinstalling train crossing signals/tracks; (d) reinstalling road signs; (e) adding perimeter safety fencing, and (f) resituating several min-heritage buildings that form the mini-townsite. We have estimates for this work at $750,000 and are in the process of applying to CFEP for a large grant. However we must raise matching funds of $375,000.

Given the number of pedestrian injuries and deaths in Calgary, it is critical to teach traffic safety to children in their formative years. For example, on January 21, 2025 the Calgary Herald reported that “Fatal pedestrian collisions more than tripled last year over the prior year, and a rash of incidents so far in January paints a bleak picture for what may come in 2025.” In this same article Calgary’s senior leader of mobility safety said that “…the uptick has raised concerns for the City and its partners at the Calgary Police Service.” Moreover a Calgary Herald article published on April 21, 2025 noted that the “…City has also been working to get more traffic safety education back to schools…” and that the City “…has continued to take action in its Pedestrian Strategy…” Also as the City continues to prioritize making Calgary a “bicycle-friendly city” (e.g. by dedicating over 1% of its transportation budget to its Cycling Strategy), the importance of teaching pedestrian and cycling traffic safety to children only increases.