Accelerated construction strategy for Valley Line West LRT to be applied elsewhere

As the weather turns colder and construction season winds down, CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson looks at the construction projects in the city this year.

The method used to fasttrack construction of the Valley Line West LRT has been deemed a success by the city and will likely be used on other infrastructure projects.

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City officials touted the accelerated roadwork plan, which fully closed intersections so crews could finish work in an area quicker, during a construction season wrap-up news conference on Tuesday as a way to mitigate traffic impacts on more residents in the future.

“The idea is it’s now available to those projects. It will be case by case,” Mayor Andrew Knack said.

The installation of concrete segments along 87 Avenue for Valley Line West LRT was only one of several construction milestones or completed projects celebrated on Tuesday.

City officials also applauded the completion of downtown’s O-day’min Park and the Amisk wâciw âsokan (Beaver Hills) Bridge connecting Edmonton and Strathcona County, the early opening of the 50 Street Bridge over Whitemud Drive, the start of the Holyrood Supportive Housing Project, which will add 63 units of supportive housing to the neighbourhood, and the completion of the emissions-neutral Blatchford Fire Station No. 8, which crews moved into last week and which hosted the Tuesday press conference.

The facility on the former municipal airport lands north of downtown is a part of the Blatchford district energy sharing system, from which it gets its heating, cooling, and hot water services.

“It is impressive, certainly, but what you see here today is not just a structure. You see a tangible, critical investment in our shared safety,” commented fire chief David Lazenby.

In total, the $1.5-billion construction season consisted of some 200 projects: 88 facility projects, 44 open-space projects, 89 transportation projects, and 15 LRT expansion and renewal projects. This includes more than 100 kilometres of roadways, alleys and sidewalks upgraded through the neighbourhood renewal program.

More than 90 per cent were completed on schedule and budget.

Knack thanked Edmontonians for their patience while the city catches up on years of under-investment in critical infrastructure and attempts to keep pace with Edmonton’s rapid growth.

“We heard Edmontonians loud and clear that there has been a real impact to the amount of construction – and I don’t see that changing anytime soon because of how rapidly we’re growing and all of the rural renewal that needs to happen. So instead of just acknowledging it, that’s why city staff are trying different ways of doing it,” Knack said.

“There will be an impact, but we can do better and we’re already doing better through the work that we tried out this year. And I’m excited to see how we can do even better going into next year.”