The official starting point of the ring is at Deerfoot Trail in southeast Calgary, with exit numbers increasing as the freeway proceeds clockwise.

Construction first began in northwest Calgary as an expressway in the 1990s, incrementally extending clockwise towards Deerfoot Trail before two public–private partnership (P3) projects completed the northeast and southeast sections in 2009 and 2013, respectively.

After decades of struggling to acquire right of way from the adjacent Tsuutʼina Nation for the southwest portion of the road, Alberta finally struck a CA$275 million deal in 2013 with the Nation that included a transfer of Crown land and other compensation, allowing completion of the southwest quadrant in 2021.

A final short segment between Highways 1 and 8 opened in 2023, some 70 years after Calgary city planners had first presented plans for the ring road.

Due to the western side of the city being located in the outer limits of the Rocky Mountain foothills the west section of Stoney Trail intersects several hills and valleys with many stream crossings, broad sweeping curves and moderately steeps hills as it navigates its way though rolling terrain.

It then veers away from the edge of the city cutting through a corner of the reservation and passing a small interchange for 90th Avenue.

The developed areas of Calgary had already reached 37 Street SW around the Glenmore Reservoir inhibiting the ability of the government to impose an RDA.

The missing link in the TUC map created uncertainty in the future positioning of the southwest leg of the freeway.

In the mid-1990s, the province of Alberta built the first segment around the Bow River Bridge connecting Highway 1 with Crowchild Trail.

The original design was limited in scope and incorporated two interchanges, one flyover and two signalized intersections with completion scheduled in 2007 at a cost of $250 million.

The portion of the ring road between Harvest Hills Boulevard and Deerfoot Trail opened to traffic on November 2, 2009.

[7] Actual peak traffic volumes exceeded 40,000 vpd between Crowchild Trail and Country Hills Boulevard in 2010.

[8] The northwest ring road opened on November 2, 2009, with traffic signals at Harvest Hills Boulevard but grading was completed for a future possible interchange.

A signalized intersection was initially constructed at Beddington Trail and Symons Valley Road, but it was upgraded to an interchange when the project was finished in 2009.

[6] The Crowchild Interchange was constructed along a pre-existing portion of Stoney Trail,[13] and the design was modified to be free-flowing and to include an LRT bridge to allow for the CTrain to be extended west to Tuscany station.

Following the completion of the Crowchild Trail interchange, the only remaining traffic signals were at the intersection with Nose Hill Drive.

[17] Design and public information delays caused Alberta Transportation to revise its expectations and it was announced that construction of the interchange would commence in early 2011 and be completed in the fall of 2013.

[18] However, the tender process was slow to be initiated and it was not until November 17, 2011, that Alberta Transportation announced the Nose Hill Drive interchange would be built by Acciona Infrastructure Canada at a cost of $67 million and be opened to traffic in the fall of 2014.

[19] Construction of the 21 km (13 mi) northeast portion of the freeway began in 2007 and opened to traffic on November 2, 2009, connecting the Deerfoot Trail interchange to 17 Avenue SE (formerly Highway 1A).

[20] In December 2005, Calgary had announced it was in talks with the province to expedite construction, and on February 22, 2007, Alberta's Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation awarded a contract to the Stoney Trail Group public-private partnership consortium (P3) for construction of the project's first stage, and maintenance of the northwest and northeast sections of the ring road for 30 years following completion.

[22] On October 12, 2011, 96 Avenue was opened from Stoney Trail west to 60 Street NE, accessible only from the south.

[36] The original project schedule from June 2010 had this interchange fully opening in the fall of 2013 with traffic on the new structure in the summer of 2012 with construction starting in 2011.

The existing 17 Avenue SE intersection, which had been the terminus of the freeway since 2009, was upgraded to a partial cloverleaf interchange.

The final 4 km connecting Fish Creek Boulevard to Highway 22X opened one year later, on October 2, 2021.

[44] Planning for the construction of a right-in-right-out access north of Stoney Trail at 14th Street was announced in 2014 and completed the following year.

[45][46] The City of Calgary began construction of a full interchange at the 14th Street location in 2019 which was completed by September 2021.

[47][48] Construction on a trumpet interchange only accessing 11th Street to the north of the Stoney Trail began in 2019, and was completed by 2023.

In 2023 the city of Calgary began the construction of a flyover at 80th Avenue NE to connect to a new neighbourhood east of Stoney Trail.

The single lane flyover will not be open for regular road traffic and will only be used by transit, emergency vehicles and active transportation.

There is also a right away for a major free flowing interchange at the NE corner of the ring that will connect to a future bypass of Airdrie.