+15 Walkway & Calgary Tower © Lucy Izon

Calgary, Alberta- Take a look up when you’re walking in downtown Calgary and you’ll notice a design feature that’s unique to this city. The buildings are linked with enclosed suspended walkways 15 feet above the ground. This all started because of cool winter weather. The 60 suspended bridges connect 100 buildings, creating a 18 km walking route for circulating the core of the city without having to go outside.

The path leads past shops, restaurants, through office towers and to theatres. It is the longest elevated climate-controlled pedestrian walkway in the world. Calgary filmmaker Gary Burns took this to another level when he made a movie about three fellows who wagered who of them could stay inside the longest. Called ‘Waydowntown‘, the film won the Toronto International Film Festival’s award for Best Canadian Feature Film in 2000.  The system has interactive screens that provide directions throughout the +15 Skywalk network at the touch of a finger. You can get a PDF of the +15 Skywalk here