Edmonton mayor wants to expand size, scope of possible new High-Level Bridge
Posted May 25, 2026 3:56 pm.
Last Updated May 25, 2026 6:16 pm.
At Edmonton City Hall on Monday, councillors heard a report showing that two of Edmonton’s iconic bridges — the High- and Low-Level bridges — will need to be replaced.
While Edmonton’s mayor says he wants to expand the size and scope of the new High-Level Bridge, city leaders will need to figure out how to pay for it.
“It has been around for over 113 years, and yet when you hear the cost of $380 million plus potentially 50 per cent, and that would pretty much let you keep it as is without any modernization, I get why administration has to recommend a new path forward,” said Mayor Andrew Knack.
READ: Edmonton’s High- and Low-Level bridges will need to be replaced: city officials
Edmonton’s mayor told the media on Monday that while he will be sad to see an integral part of Edmonton’s skyline gone one day, it doesn’t make financial sense to keep fixing up the High-Level Bridge.
City leaders heard that both the High-Level and Low-Level Bridges are at the end of their usefulness, as both have at least a decade of use left. But when it comes to the High-Level Bridge, which was made with pre-atomic steel, councillors heard that it would cost billions of dollars to rebuild an identical bridge from similar material.
Knack says now is the time to start talking about a new bridge, and he says he wants to see it bigger than the old one.
“It has to have vehicle traffic. It has to have a dedicated bus rapid transit. It has to have active transportation,” said Knack. “I think for most Edmontonians, they would argue it would have to have that streetcar piece. You might not be able to retain the High-Level Bridge, but that streetcar is iconic for the city, and I think the cost of that is something that most Edmontonians might be able to absorb.”
“It’s as heavy as it gets, right,” added Reed Clarke, the councillor for Ward Nakota Isga. “To be honest, this is something my kids are going to grow up with or not grow up with, the decisions we make.”
Clarke told CityNews there will be some tough conversations around replacing a piece of Edmonton and Alberta’s history, and is hoping that, whether the bridge comes down or not, the province and Ottawa can help the city out with paying for a new one.
“They came to the table to help build this bridge in the first place, 100 years ago. So, I think with their plans, Mayor Knack brought it up with the potential of high-speed rail. How does that play into this? So I still think there’s a lot of questions that need to be asked on this,” said Clarke.
The one question everyone seems to be asking: Will the new bridge have a waterfall?
“I’d love it. But let’s be realistic about costs,” said Mayor Knack. “If you’re going to do something like that, what would it cost? Are Edmontonians willing to pay for that?”
The report to councillors shows the High-Level Bridge sees up to 27,000 vehicles travel south every day.
–With files from Darcy Ropchan
