West Edmonton residents frustrated by overlapping construction projects

The frustration of driving through west Edmonton is increasing for some locals.

One Edmonton bus driver says he’s glad school’s out for the summer because the roadwork happening outside his home on 95th avenue makes driving more difficult.

“It adds about 15 minutes just to get from here to 170th street and that’s only 3 blocks away,” said Cody, lives between two construction sites.

Local residents want to know why the city felt it was so important to start up ripping up the road along 95th avenue when they haven’t finished up the LRT work, which is already slowing down traffic on 87th.

“My honest opinion, I feel if they had put all the work crews on major projects one at a time, that they would get done faster,” said Debra, lives in West Meadowlark.

A spokesperson with the city told CityNews that the construction projects were overdue and already delayed for the past two years. The construction originally slated to begin in 2023.

“Renewal projects, like this one, rebuild infrastructure that has reached the end of its lifecycle,” said the City of Edmonton. “Some overlap between construction projects is unavoidable due to seasonal and contractual requirements and scheduling constraints.”

“Summertime, your traffic is a little bit less congested, so it’s probably better,” said Dean, lives in west meadowlark between two construction sites. “When else are you going to do it, right? It’s winter half the year here.”

Cody hopes traffic flow will improve before he has a bus full of kids returning to class in the fall.

“Driving that down all the tight little areas puts 20 minutes on, now kids are always late for school and it’s just one thing after another,” said Cody.

Construction along 95th ave. is expected to be completed in 2026. The west valley line LRT is expected to wrap up construction in 2028.