EDMONTON, ALTA. – TransEd CEO Ronald Joncas announced on Aug. 10 the Valley Line Southeast LRT will not open in summer 2022.
During inspections conducted by both TransEd and the City of Edmonton cracks were found in some of the piers supporting elevated LRT tracks, a TransEd release stated.
“We immediately initiated protocol for a through assessment by our engineering team. This required a close-up inspection so we have installed access scaffolding around three piers. In the past days the preliminary engineering analysis indicated the issue primarily to relate to what the engineering team called later thermal load on the piers at the curved section on the elevated guideways,” Joncas said.
TransEd and the engineering team are currently exploring options to strengthen the piers to address the issue, he added.
The City of Edmonton issued a statement from city manager Andre Corbould in response to TransEd’s announcement.
“City Administration is deeply disappointed about this new delay. But we will not let that disappointment take us off course. We are committed to bringing a safe and reliable LRT service to Edmontonians, and we are holding TransEd accountable to fix this problem,” Corbould said.
“TransEd is fully responsible for the costs of repairing the piers, and it continues to forfeit payments every month the system is not operational. Edmontonians’ financial interests are protected under the terms of the public-private partnership (P3) agreement for the project,” he said.
“This delay is a significant inconvenience to passengers who should have been enjoying the Valley Line Southeast from Mill Woods to downtown by now. The City will continue to provide frequent bus service in place of the LRT line, so people can still move around their city,” Corbould added.
The project is the City of Edmonton’s largest infrastructure project to date and is valued at $1.8 billion.
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