‘Tis the season for construction sites and sounds around every corner, it seems, in Edmonton.
The city has seen one of the most robust construction seasons ever.
This year, the city managed 300 construction jobs and employed 13,000 people.
Seventy per cent of the city’s projects are on schedule and 92 per cent are on budget, according to officials, as the final year of council’s ambitious four-year infrastructure plan gets ready to wrap up.
Adam Laughlin, the deputy manager for the City of Edmonton, said officials appreciate the patience from drivers. He said each project is critical.
“We have a limited construction season when it comes to outdoor projects and you see our projects actually starting to creep into what have been non-traditional construction season activities because we do recognize the impact that it causes,” Laughlin said.
READ MORE: Construction season officially underway in Edmonton: ‘Truly a sign of growth’
Businesses like Hudsons on Whyte Avenue feel they are getting the brunt of it. General manager Connor Yakabuski said it cost the company thousands of dollars to take down their staple patio for construction on one side of the business that still hasn’t begun.
“We had it up on our Gateway side. We were forced to take it down and they ended up delaying construction by a year,” Yakabuski said. “We don’t really know what the plan is, we know that they’ll be doing a bunch of stuff to the sidewalk to make it more user-friendly, a little more walking friendly, but the design seems to be changing every time we get a new report.”
This month, Yakabuski said the business was blindsided by more construction on the other side of the building along Whyte Avenue.
“We actually had no idea it was happening, we never were notified. We were supposed to take down our Whyte Avenue patio on Oct. 17. This (construction) started on the Friday before,” Yakabuski said. “We’re seeing a big decline in sales over the last week just since all this started. Just trying to get around here has been tough for everyone.”
The city hopes the temporary problem around construction pays off soon.
As for the delay around the southeast Valley Line LRT, the city would not commit to whether or not it will open sometime next year. They’re waiting on a report from Trans Ed on more repairs that need to be done for it.
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