Banff Plans to Widen Elk Street Sidewalks to Ease Peak-Season Congestion

The Town of Banff is planning to widen sidewalks on Elk Street as part of a broader effort to manage peak-season congestion and ongoing parking shortages.

During the busiest visitor months, Banff’s parking system is under significant strain. Combined on-street and off-street parking occupancy downtown exceeds 100%, while the intercept parking lot at the train station, intended to keep vehicles out of the core, can be short by hundreds of spaces during peak periods. When the intercept lot fills, additional vehicles are pushed toward the downtown core, undermining its role in congestion management.

Given the finite nature of Banff’s road network and sustained visitation pressures, the town has increasingly encouraged visitors to complete trips into the core on foot or by transit, with walking and transit now accounting for about 40% of Bow River crossings, up from 26% in 2019.

Council has said that efforts such as sidewalk widening are intended to make walking and transit trips easier, safer, and more intuitive, thereby making them more attractive. Elk Street is one of the main pedestrian corridors between the intercept parking lot at the train station and Banff’s main commercial area along Banff Avenue, carrying a steady flow of visitors walking into the downtown core. In response to growing pedestrian volumes, the town has identified widening sidewalks on Elk Street as an actionable project for 2026.

Funding for the work is included in the town’s 2026 Sidewalk Improvement Program, with $300,000 allocated for sidewalk improvements, including design work for Elk Street.

During a presentation to Town Council, Adrian Field, Director of Engineering for the Town of Banff, said: “The sidewalk improvement program is $300,000 for next year. And the plan is for design work on Elk Street, and the plan there will be to kind of chip away at Elk Street doing perhaps one side of one block per year.”

A specific width for the proposed Elk Street sidewalk has not yet been confirmed. However, the project is expected to follow the town’s streetscape design guidelines used during the Moose Street reconstruction in 2025, which included a 2.4-metre-wide sidewalk, curb, and gutter.

The approach contrasts with more aggressive parking controls, such as expanded paid zones, reservation systems, or further fee increases, which councillors have flagged as measures that could significantly affect residents, workers, and commuters. Although, those measures have not been ruled out, as the effectiveness of the town’s congestion-management efforts depends on whether incremental steps like sidewalk widening can keep pace with visitor growth.

The Elk Street project remains in the early planning stage. The 2026 funding is for design work only, and no construction is expected this year. The timing and scope of any future sidewalk widening will depend on the outcome of that design process and subsequent council approvals.