Alberta Highway 1A

It provides more immediate access to attractions in Banff National Park such as Castle Mountain and Johnston Canyon.

This spur has a reduced speed limit of 60 km/h (37 mph), and provides opportunities to view wildlife at various times of the year.

Parks Canada introduced planned and marked pullovers along the route to enhance and educate visitors about the region.

[3] Parks Canada enacted seasonal travel restrictions along the Bow Valley Parkway on a 17 km (11 mi) segment between the Johnston Canyon Campground and the Fireside Picnic Area (adjacent to the Highway 1 eastern junction).

The second of the 1A routes, known as the Bow Valley Trail, begins in Canmore, off of the Trans-Canada Highway at exit 91.

[1] From exit 91, it heads eastbound, along the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks, until it reaches the Hamlet of Exshaw.

[1] Just east of Highway 1X, Bow Valley Trail narrows and the speed limit is reduced to 80 km/h (50 mph) for approximately thirty kilometres as it passes through the Stoney-Nakoda First Nation, where warning signs that there may be livestock and/or pedestrians on the road are posted.

Shortly after resuming its normal speed limit, the highway skirts the north shore of Ghost Lake, a manmade glacier lake that is a popular spot for Calgary's boating and sailing enthusiasts in the summer, as well as ice sailing in the winter.

[9] A former section of Highway 1A exists along the former Kicking Horse Trail, the original road between Lake Louise and Golden, British Columbia that opened in 1926.

[12] It began at British Columbia Highway 1, 3 km (2 mi) west of the Alberta border in Yoho National Park.

It meandered eastward through Kicking Horse Pass to Lake Louise, generally paralleling the main Highway 1 and CPR rail line to the south.

[18][20] Once in Cypress County, it is referred to as the Old Trans-Canada Highway, while in Redcliff and Medicine Hat, it goes by South Railway Avenue and Saamis Drive.

[1] It serves as the only Bow River crossing between Canmore to the west and Mînî Thnî to the east, providing access to First Nations lands and communities in the area.

Looking east along the Bow Valley Trail crossing the Grand Valley Creek about 8 km west of Cochrane