Key takeaways:
- TransEd won’t provide a new opening date for LRT from Mill Woods to downtown.
- The Valley Line Southeast LRT is about two years behind the opening date of winter 2020.
Edmonton’s $1.8-billion Valley Line Southeast LRT will not open by the end of the summer as scheduled after inspectors discovered cracks in concrete piers, the construction firm in charge of the project declared Wednesday.
Ronald Joncas, CEO of TransEd, stated inspectors saw the issue on July 16.
“We have lately found cracks on some of the concrete piers that help the elevated tracks,” Joncas told media at a press conference.
Joncas told of the 45 piers along the route; 18 ports may need repair.
He said the cracks are due to thermal expansion problems related to the climate.
He said that units have put up scaffolding near the piers and are undertaking strengthening efforts. Engineering teams are considering all the piers to understand the root cause sufficiently.
Joncas would not state how long the new steps would take and when the line might open.
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“We are not in a place to give a date because we don’t know precisely what ought to be done,” he said.
He said the firm would better understand timelines in two weeks.
“This project has encountered unusual challenges,” Joncas stated.
Last October, the firm declared that the project was postponed because of a longer-than-expected testing process for the new trains. COVID-19 also addressed some construction supplies’ workforce shortages and supply chain problems.
In 2018, units struck a concrete mass nine meters below the surface of the North Saskatchewan River during the Tawatinâ Bridge construction.
The latest pause means the line is almost two years behind the actual opening date of winter 2020.
Mayor dissatisfied
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said as an advocate for accessible public transit, he’s alarmed at the news of the delay.
Source – CBC News
