The Walterdale Bridge is a main artery for drivers heading north towards downtown Edmonton, but the city is looking at adding southbound lanes to help mitigate looming construction congestion.
While the plans aren’t finalized, the city says the two-way change will improve traffic flow as upcoming construction will redirect more vehicles onto the Walterdale.
According to a city memo, between 2025 and 2029, three spans in the North Saskatchewan River valley — the Dawson Bridge, the Low Level Bridge, and the High Level Bridge — are all anticipated to go under either partial or full closures for maintenance.
On 102 Avenue, work on the Wellington Bridge in Glenora will also lead to traffic disruptions.
That means drivers will change their routes.
The city says it is preparing for traffic gridlock between bridge repairs and other projects on the way, including the LRT construction and upgrades to Jasper Avenue.
“Edmonton has an extensive inventory of approximately 347 bridges (pedestrian and vehicle) worth approximately $2.6 billion in replacement value,” City of Edmonton transportation planning and design director Natalie Lazurko said in a statement.
“These bridges require ongoing inspection, maintenance and renewal to ensure they maintain their expected level of service.”
No changes would be made to the Walterdale Bridge itself.
“To be clear, extra lanes would not be added to the Walterdale Bridge, but instead a reconfiguration of the current lanes across the bridge would take place.”
Adding southbound lanes on Walterdale Bridge means Rossdale Road and Walterdale Hill Road would also undergo traffic-flow changes to ensure vehicles have access on and off the bridge in both directions.
“Planning and design is underway for these network adjustments, with a decision regarding two-way operations on Walterdale Bridge still subject to further analysis. Network adjustments are anticipated to be implemented prior to the closure of Wellington Bridge in 2025,” Lazurko said.
Coun. Andrew Knack says while repairs for each bridge are back-to-back, the city must follow the lifespan to repair the structures before it’s too late.
“There’s going to be impact, right? But the question is how do you try to mitigate that,” he explained.
“Part of why we measure every year is that you need to make sure bridges are one of those things where you can’t wait until they fail,” Knack said.
Changing bridge flow directions in Edmonton is not without precedent: traffic on the High Level Bridge flowed in both directions from when it opened in 1913 until 1980.
Traffic on both the Walterdale and High Level were then changed to one-way to better utilize the two bridges.