After nearly two years of closures due to Valley Line LRT west construction, a major route between west Edmonton and downtown will reopen this weekend.
Stony Plain Road between 129th and 139th streets, along with the new Stony Plain Road Bridge over Groat Road, will reopen to vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians on Saturday, Nov. 30.
Stretches of the road in the west end have been closed since December 2022, when the old bridge was demolished and has since been replaced with a new span that accommodates LRT tracks.
During the closure, east and westbound traffic has been diverted south to 102nd Avenue and north to 107th Avenue.
Valley Line LRT construction on Stony Plain Road between 131st Street and 139th Street was supposed to be done by the beginning of November 2023, but earlier this year the contractor for the west leg of the LRT, Marigold Infrastructure Partners (MIP), said it ran into some challenges.
Construction work exposed existing infrastructure that wasn’t deemed adequate and MIP needed to do unexpected work, the company said at the time.
Wet weather and a skilled labour shortage compounded the problems. The city stressed that missed deadlines cost the company money, not the city.
Back in the spring, a 10-block stretch of the road spanning either side of the bridge was shut down to accommodate construction work.
The closure was initially supposed to only go from April until August and Marigold said the work was completed on schedule, however the closure was extended to the end of November “to accelerate additional work and help minimize impacts on Edmontonians in 2025.”
Marigold noted while the road is reopening, construction work is still ongoing. Work on the OCS (Overhead Catenary System), permanent streetlights, and the utility complex will continue along the road.
Some significant traffic changes have been made to the major roadway.
To accommodate the LRT tracks that will allow trains to travel between downtown and the west side of Edmonton, Stony Plain Road has been permanently reduced to a single lane of traffic in either direction.
Most intersections will be permanently restricted to right in/right out and left turns from Stony Plain Road onto most adjacent streets will be permanently banned. Left turns onto Stony Plain Road will be maintained at 132 Street and 134 Street, Margold said.
The City of Edmonton will hold a news conference next week to learn more about the major milestone for the Valley Line West LRT.
Construction on the $2.6-billion western leg of the LRT line from downtown to the west end began in 2021 and was expected to take five to six years to complete.
Marigold Infrastructure Partners is made up of team members Colas, Parsons, Standard General, Francl Architecture, Fast & Epp and Stantec.
From end to end once complete, the Valley Line will run 27 km from Mill Woods in the southeast to Lewis Farms in the west end.
—with files from Caley Ramsay and Emily Mertz, Global News