Traditional campsite in 1845, Calgary to Banff road in 1920, and the Trans Canada Highway in 2003 just east of the Banff National Park entrance.
Human numbers in the valley have increased from a few dozen in Indigenous times, to a few thousand during the 1920s to over 100,000 people visiting or passing through the park on a busy summer day in the 2020s. This mass of humans require highways, rail lines, powerlines, gaslines, cable lines and a complex array of other infrastructure. Moreover, the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Railroad mainline and the Trans Canada move tons of goods through the park that maintain the national economy and international trade.
The electrical grid, commmunications systems and the roads necessary for evacuation are the infrastructure most at risk of failing during a large wildfire.
