CALGARY -- The City of Calgary has released its finalized design plans for a mixed-use pathway that will stretch eastward from Stanley Park, through the Barley Belt District, toward the Calgary Food Bank.

The nearly three-kilometre-long pathway will carve a path across the Manchester Industrial Area along the south side of 42nd Ave. S.E. — an area that had previously been unwelcoming to foot traffic, cyclists and transit users — and sections of both 11th and 12th St. S.E.

The plans include:

A new traffic signal at the intersection of 42nd Ave. and First St. S.E.

A pathway between 42nd Ave and the 39th Ave LRT station

A new pedestrian crosswalk at the intersection of 42nd Ave and Blackfoot Trail S.E.

Connection from the pathway to the future Highfield Park Green Line LRT station

Connection from the pathway to the Calgary Food Bank

According to city officials, a contractor is expected to be hired in the spring and construction is set to begin in the weeks following. The pathway is slated to be complete in the fall of 2020, weather-permitting.

The area was dubbed the 'Barley Belt District' in recognition of the more than a dozen taprooms that have opened in recent years. Craft brewery owners had previously expressed a desire to make the area more bicycle-friendly as taprooms and cyclists had proven perfect bedfellows in both Vancouver, B.C. and Portland, Ore.

For more information on the pathway project visit 42 Avenue S.E. Complete Streets project