Valley Line LRT west intersection closures to begin with 124 Street this month – Edmonton

They say Edmonton has two seasons — winter and construction — and as one fades away, the other is ramping up for the spring and summer.

After the City of Edmonton chose to speed up construction along the 14-kilometre west leg of the Valley Line LRT, the first of several planned intersection closures will begin in about two and a half weeks.

The city elected to shut down select intersections so the builder, Marigold Infrastructure Partners, can get work done about twice as fast as previously expected, instead of maintaining access and dragging out construction for more years.

“We’ve been hearing feedback that it’s been a long construction — and it has been — so we’re trying to address that this year,” said Po Sun, the City of Edmonton’s acting director of the Valley Line West.

“The emphasis of this accelerated roadwork plan is to help us reopen lanes sooner.”

It’ll be short-term pain for long-term gain — however, businesses surrounding the work have been living with the LRT construction for years already and while some appreciate efforts to speed things up, others are fed up and moving.

“I had to get out of here,” said Kim Tran, the owner of Studio Mi!. The hair salon in Glenora Gates condo building faces 104 Avenue, between 121 and 122 streets.

She’s been in that spot for the better part of decade and said between road closures, high noise levels from things like jackhammers, and debris being tracked around — construction has been an issue almost the entire time.

“I’m getting out of this location because I simply just can’t handle the inconvenience anymore,” she said, explaining she’s shutting down Studio Mi! and moving to a new business closer to downtown.

“I picked this place because there is no construction. That’s how bad it’s been — that literally when I was looking for locations, I was like, ‘Is there any construction here?’ Because I’ve been dealing with this for 10 years.”

Tran said not only has getting to and from her own business been a pain, it’s been a big hassle for her clients as well.

“Not only is it so hard for clients to get here, they are always late because they don’t realize there’s construction here as well. So they end up being late, then they can’t find parking — it’s just complete mess.”

The three-phase accelerated plan will take place from mid-April to November and will result in significant traffic restrictions at key intersections and along busy corridors.

“I feel really bad for all the businesses that are going to be operating within that. That’s gonna be terrible,” Tran said.

“I’m so sorry that’s happening.”

“We understand this has been a frustrating process,” Sun said. “It’s disruptive — construction is disruptive. And we want to mitigate that with this work plan as best as we, can by reducing the duration.”

Phase 1 of the work will involve the following:

104 Avenue between 105 Street and 121 Street

Beginning the week of April 14, Marigold will start preparing 104 Avenue between 105 Street and 121 Street so roadwork can begin the week of April 21.

Preparation work will occur over numerous days, and includes moving traffic pylons, lane barriers and adjusting traffic and pedestrian signage at different locations.

104 Avenue will go down to one lane of traffic in each direction and that reduction is expected to last the entire construction season.

Stony Plain Road at 124 Street (full intersection closure)

Starting the week of April 21, the intersection of Stony Plain Road at 124 Street will closed completely and remain that way for approximately eight weeks.

“124th Street is the only full closure and the rest of them are partial closures. The context for each one is different. I think they are impactful in their own way,” Sun said.

Detours will be in place for vehicles using 124 Street and 104 Avenue/Stony Plain Road. Drivers can use 102 Avenue to the south, and 107 Avenue to the north, to get east and west.

More information on the closure, including a detailed map, can be found on Marigold ’s website.

Stony Plain Road at 156 Street (partial intersection closure)

Starting the week of April 21, Stony Plain Road at 156 Street will be partially closed to vehicles for approximately 12 weeks.

The work at that intersection will be done in two, six-week stages, with different traffic restrictions for each of the two stages. Specific details are posted here.

87 Avenue at Meadowlark Road (partial intersection closure)

Starting in early May, 87 Avenue at Meadowlark Road will be partially closed to vehicles for around 10 weeks, although one westbound lane and eastbound lane will remain open in each direction on the avenue.

The city said signs will be posted ahead of work beginning, so drivers and area residents will have a heads up on what to expect.

What to expect later in 2025

Once the accelerated roadwork for Phase 1 is complete at each of the intersections, the city said traffic lanes will begin to open.

However, Marigold crews will continue to work in those areas and minor traffic restrictions will remain in place until the end of the construction season.

“There’s a differentiation between the intersection work and the mid-block work,” said Jonathan Cox, the construction manager at Marigold Infrastructure Partners.

“So the mid-block work is on the regular schedule which continues throughout the whole of the season. But the intersection work, when we reopen those, sidewalk and roadway will be finished. So if business is affected specifically at the intersection, will have no more effects after that.”

Other work will also continue at various points along the LRT line between downtown and Lewis Farms in the west end.

“We know this road work will have a major impact on commuters, residents and businesses,” Po Sun said.

“Completing the majority of Valley Line West roadwork in 2025 would be a significant milestone and provide a degree of relief for the public and businesses from what has been a lengthy construction process.”

By the end of 2025, the city said Marigold aims to have all of the roads around the LRT in their final configuration.

Marigold said it has spent month planning this work and is confident it will go well.

“We’ve got detailed planning for how we’re going to do this work and we have secured subcontractors who are committed to working longer hours to make this happen,” said Cox.

He added the main issue that could cause delays is out of their control.

“The biggest risk is the rain,” Cox said, explaining with the type of soil in Edmonton, after a big rainfall the ground needs to be given a day or two to dry out again before work can continue. “We have scheduled some rain into the scheduling, but that’s the biggest risk that we see.”

Phases 2 and 3 of the ramped-up work is expected to begin in July and September.

The city said these phases will be coordinated to avoid overlapping impacts on traffic and will include more full or partial intersection closures  near downtown and in the west end. Those include:

Phase 2 (July to September)

• Stony Plain Road at 142 Street
• 95 Avenue at 156 Street

Phase 3 (September to November)

• Stony Plain Road at 149 Street

The work along the 104 Avenue corridor between 106 Street to 121 Street will remain ongoing throughout all three phases.

Marigold admitted U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs may affect the line, but said the company is committed to sticking to its timeline.

“Tariffs do affect construction, especially when we’re buying specialist equipment or cabling or something which we can only source from the U.S,” Cox said. “It’s a significant challenge. We’re working through it. We do our best to mitigate it.”

Major construction began in 2021 and so far, the line is about 35 per cent complete. The entire west leg of the Valley Line LRT is expected to be complete in 2028.

“Cost challenges and tariff challenges, we are working through and we will not allow that to impact the construction timeline.”

The Valley Line is a public-private partnership being built by Marigold Infrastructure Partners, which is made up of a team from French civil engineering and construction firm Colas and American technology-focused defense, intelligence, and infrastructure engineering firm Parsons.

Forty-six low-floor train cars for the line will be supplied by Hyundai Rotem Company.