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Edmonton’s fifth season — road construction — has arrived.
While the city is outlining what people can expect from the more than 200 projects underway, delays aren’t new for some residents.
Driving through the city’s southwest, it’s not uncommon to see heavy traffic — and a lot of it.
“Everyone is frustrated, everyone is annoyed,” said Janna Houle, a longtime resident of Windermere.
People living in the Terwillegar and Windermere areas say they’ve been dealing with delays and construction all year and enough is enough.
Houle says what used to be a 30-minute drive has turned into a two-hour nightmare due to traffic and work in the area, especially as work to expand the Terwillegar Drive overpass has ramped up on either side of Anthony Henday Drive.
“We’re backed up all the way down Terwillegar Drive past the (Anthony) Henday, or if we try to take an alternate route, Rabbit Hill Road, we’re also backed up there now, too,” said Houle.
“It’s lanes blocked off, but we’re not really seeing construction, so I don’t know it’s a lot of lanes blocked off and nothing happening all day.”
It’s one of many places in Edmonton undergoing a lot of construction to deal with the city’s growing population — the multi-year expansion of Terwillegar Drive from the Whitemud to the Henday is just one of several projects.
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The city says they’re aware of the issues near Windermere and surrounding neighbourhoods.
The southwest corner of the city has been the fastest-growing area of Edmonton for about 25 years.
“It’s the whole reason why we’re there doing the work. If it wasn’t for that growth, we wouldn’t have to do this project and to get this project done, we do have to include traffic impacts as part of that work,” said Jason Meliefste, branch manager of infrastructure delivery with the City of Edmonton.
“One of the things that we’re going to be doing is providing additional capacity as soon as we possibly can and looking at ways to accelerate the components, specifically around the intersections.”
The city says there are currently hundreds of active projects in Edmonton, and the vast majority are on schedule and on budget.
The city has allotted more than $7 billion in the budget for active projects, which include multi-year projects, as well as maintenance and renewal.
While some work is just starting, several other projects are nearing completion.
City staff say the accelerated roadwork strategy used on projects like Stony Plain Road last year has helped — like at the Wellington Bridge on 102 Avenue.
Construction on the bridge in Glenora was originally set to take two years, but it is now ahead of schedule and will be finished this fall.
“This is something that council talked about last year. We tested it out last year. It worked, and it’s going to allow us to do more projects this year in a thoughtful way,” said Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack.
The city says the years-long major work on Whitemud Drive at the Rainbow Valley Bridge will be completed this year, along with the Dawson Bridge rehabilitations.
Work on the Yellowhead freeway conversion and the Terwillegar Drive expansion is visibly progressing, along with rehabilitation of Jasper Avenue.
As the Capital Line South LRT extension and the Valley Line West LRT construction continues, there will also be traffic impacts to communities like Twin Brooks and the Henday in the west end.
Staff say they’re doing what they can to alleviate the construction headaches people are feeling.
“We take no enjoyment from being on a construction site for four or five years, if we can be there quicker,” said Meliefste.
“Get in, get out, get done, that’s really kind of what our focus is.”
For Houle, she hopes that’s the case because she can’t wait much longer.
“There needs to be some kind of collaboration. It can’t all be happening at once. Different roadways closed all the time,” she said.
The city has created a traffic disruptions map so drivers can plan ahead to use alternate routes.
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