With construction season coming to a close, the city says crews have accomplished a lot this year despite months of heavy rain over the summer. City of Edmonton deputy manager Sarah Nichols said more than 80 per cent of projects are on schedule, with over 90 per cent on budget. The city is on track to have around 65 projects completed by the end of the year. “Extreme rainfall did impact our construction season, and it created some challenges,” said Nichols at a press conference Tuesday. “I’m proud of the resilience and agility our teams and contractors demonstrated.” Record-breaking rainfall flooded much of Edmonton over the summer, impacting infrastructure and creating new projects such as culvert replacement and sinkhole repairs. “While weather is beyond our control, our response is not, and that’s why I’m really excited about how the accelerated work took place this year,” said Mayor Andrew Knack. The city implemented its accelerated road work program on several projects, which saw temporary, full, or partial closures in an effort to compress multi-year construction into a single season. “By ripping off the band-aid, so to speak, we are shortening the overall duration of traffic impact,” said Knack. Some notable completed projects this year include Terwillegar Drive Stage 2, Hawrelak Park, and the Coronation Park Sports and Recreation Centre. Rehabilitation work was completed on the Beverly and Dawson bridges, while work on the Wellington Bridge nears completion. Crews have also made progress on the Valley Line West LRT, Capital Line South LRT, Yellowhead Trail Freeway Conversion and Imagine Jasper Avenue projects. The city is managing more than 200 active infrastructure projects, with about half in the construction stage. More than $7 billion has been invested into infrastructure projects through the 2023-26 budget. Investments this year are expected to exceed $1.5 billion. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti
