City of Edmonton Valley Line West director Brian Latte said the project was on budget and on schedule as of the end of 2025.
“We’re very pleased with how this year went,” he said. “All of the intersections they have to shut down in order to run the tracks through were done on time. They had a lot of work to do along 104 Avenue.
“They were able to get a lot of the really difficult work done in one big shot. They got more work done this year than they’ve had in any other year.”
All that’s left on the Downtown front is 102 Avenue where the train turns towards MacEwan University. Latte said work on 103 Street to 107 Street will be prioritized in 2026. Cox added construction on the roads closer to West Edmonton Mall are still being planned out, so drivers on that side of the city should expect to adjust their commutes accordingly. He said intersections at 170 Street and 178 Street should expect delays this coming summer. Cox said the goal is to have all the track connected by the end of 2026.
With a tentative finishing date of 2029, Latte cautioned once the track is all laid out, testing the system could be the longest stretch.
He noted motorists will see trains moving on the tracks before the city begins allowing passengers on them.
“By this time next year, the contractor wants to have all of the track in all the way from downtown to the end of the line,” said Latte. “Together with that they’ll be putting in the power lines that run the LRT, they’ll be putting in the permeant traffic signals at all the intersections. They’ve got to run many, many tests of the line to make sure it works properly and reliably. We don’t want the train to stop running with passengers on it.
“We don’t know how long that can take. Sometimes that’s the most tricky part of getting a line up and running. So they’ll start that in 2028 with the hope we can get people riding it in 2029, but you can’t hold me to those dates. It’s all tentative depending on how all the testing and commissioning goes. You’ve got to have the system run a minimum number of times over a minimum number of weeks before you open the door to passengers.
