EDMONTON – Edmonton’s 102 Avenue bridge over Groat Road is scheduled to get a major overhaul, causing significant traffic disruptions for more than a year.
The heavily used bridge connects traffic between downtown Edmonton and the west end.
The century-old bridge is slated to be completely demolished so that a new one can be put in its place.
“There are many issues with that structure that needs to be replaced,” explained Councillor Amarjeet Sohi.
Preliminary work for the project will begin this week. A number of trees will be removed from the site to make way for heavy equipment. That will result in periodic lane closures until July.
Then, beginning on July 2, the bridge will close for 15 months for demolition and then construction.
It’s a project the city says is necessary because the bridge has reached the end of its life span.
However, business owners in the area are worried about the impact the construction will have on them.
“Only five or six months, that’s okay, but… 15 months, that’s a long time,” said Tan Truong, owner of La Favourite. “I don’t know what to do.”
“If the traffic goes back-and-forth, it’s very busy in this area, but the day they shut down it’ll be very quiet,” he said.
Sohi is sympathetic to business owners, but is asking them to consider the big picture.
“There’s ways the city tries to mitigate as much as possible, but the fact is that we have to build this bridge.”
“I hope that Edmontonians understand that this is being done because it needed to be done, and it’s the short-term difficulty and pain for the long-term gain,” he added.
The total cost of the project is an estimated $32 million.
A public meeting, scheduled for March 13 at the Royal Alberta Museum, will provide more information.
With files from Tom Vernon, Global News
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