Edmonton city councillor acknowledges ‘construction fatigue’

Road construction has been a headache for Edmonton drivers this summer, especially for those on Stony Plain Road and in most of west Edmonton for Valley Line West LRT construction.

One city councillor is calling for better planning around road construction closures.

“So there’s like tons of streets closed around me. I’m feeling it too,” said Sarah Hamilton, the councillor for Ward sipiwiyiniwak.

Even Edmonton’s city councillors feeling the heat from voters after an extremely busy road construction season. There’s Stony Plain Road, LRT construction, Yellowhead expansion, and what feels like every other street downtown seeing road closures due to construction or utility maintenance.

Councillor Hamilton admitted on her website that marigold infrastructure — builders of the Valley Line West LRT extension — claim the worst of the road construction should be in driver’s rearview mirrors.

“We’re starting to see the track take shape. We’re optimistic that stony plain road is going to re-open, the north portion that’s been closed for so long, we’re optimistic about that opening shortly,” said Hamilton.

While business leaders on Stony Plain Road tell me they look forward to the LRT expansion, they’ll believe construction is completed when they see it.

“The project was supposed to be 12-15 months, and we’re now in month 43. So, it’s a credibility issue, so the only way to fix that is to do what you say you were going to do,” explained Todd Janes, the executive director of the Stony Plain Road Business Association.

Councillor Hamilton admits collective construction fatigue is acknowledged at city hall, she wants to see better coordination of road construction and utility upgrades from city administration.

“One of the big pieces of frustration I hear from people is, the city will come in and do something and then a year later, a utility company will come in and cut into the new asphalt,” said Hamilton.

“And people get frustrated because they just went through a season of construction and now you’re are back in front of my house. So I think harmonizing that as best as possible and really communicating what’s happening and why.”