Starting in December, crews will start work demolishing the Stony Plain Road bridge over Groat Road in Edmonton.
The bridge will be rebuilt so it’s wide enough to support the Valley Line West LRT extension as well as vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle traffic, according to the City of Edmonton.
Stony Plain Road will be closed between 129 Street and 131 Street from late December until fall 2024. No exact dates were set in the bulletin posted to social media Wednesday. During the approximately two-year closure, traffic will be rerouted to 102 Avenue or 107 Avenue.
There will be a short-term closure of Groat Road while the bridge is demolished, and again when it’s installed. The city said the first closure will take place for four days over a weekend and the second closure is anticipated to happen in spring of 2023. The city did not say how long the second closure is expected to last.
Pedestrians will be detoured to 102 or 107 avenues when travelling east or west. During the short-term closures of Groat Road, northbound and southbound access will be detoured to Ramsay Ravine near Government House Park.
Ward Nakota Isga councillor Andrew Knack said the new bridge will have one lane of vehicle traffic in each direction with the LRT running down the middle.
“That’s always been the plan along Stony Plain Road – (it’s) meant to be reduced to two vehicle traffic lanes, one in each direction, and then the LRT running down the middle for most of the route along Stony Plain Road. Not all of it, but most of it,” said Knack.
Knack said he’s encouraged by the work done on the LRT expansion so far.
“What I’ve seen from Marigold has been quite encouraging. They have been very open and transparent — almost to the point where they overshare, they share so much information that it’s hard to sometimes keep up,” he said.
“But I would much rather see that and see this group who is actively trying to make sure Edmontonians are well aware of what they’re doing, when they’re doing it, how long they plan to be doing it, than to have to constantly be asking for updates.”
To stay up to date on the LRT construction, Knack recommends signing up for email updates or following Marigold on Twitter.