City seeks input on Valley Line West LRT crossing
Engagement session to look at 178 St/87 Ave intersection

June 27, 2017

The second stage of the Valley Line — a 14 km light-rail extension that will be built between downtown and Lewis Farms — is a top priority infrastructure project. Valley Line West will play an integral role in achieving the City’s vision for sustainable transportation that will help connect Edmonton’s communities.

Preliminary engineering for Valley Line West was completed in 2013 and the City is now ready to review and refine the design. This an important step, as it will acknowledge any changes that have occurred since the original work was done and will position the project for construction when additional funding becomes available.

The review includes the assessment of the high-volume intersection at 178 Street/87 Avenue, to ensure the crossing planned for the intersection is still appropriate.

The City is hosting a public engagement session to hear from residents — particularly those who live, work and commute in and through the area — on any issues and opportunities to consider for the crossing assessment. The drop-in style engagement session will take place:

Date: Thursday, June 29
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Location: Aldergrove Community Hall, 8535 - 182 Street Map

For more information and to provide feedback online, visit edmonton.ca/valleylinewest

For more information:
edmonton.ca/valleylinewest

Media contacts:
Alison Burns
Communications Advisor
LRT Delivery, Valley Line West
780-496-8191
 
Intersection near West Edmonton Mall the focus of LRT info session Thursday night
The west leg of the Valley Line LRT is slated to run through a very busy intersection in the west end, so the city of Edmonton is holding an information session for residents to have their say on whether the train should go over — or under — the road.

The crossing at 178 Street and 87 Avenue — a busy intersection at the southwest corner of West Edmonton Mall — will be discussed at a public engagement session on Thursday night.

It’s the second meeting of this kind: last week the city held a meeting on whether the LRT should be raised above or tunnelled below the high-volume intersection of Stony Plain Road and 149 Street.
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http://globalnews.ca/news/3561617/i...the-focus-of-lrt-info-session-thursday-night/
 
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Valley Line LRT‏ @yegvalleyLRT
Our crews are escaping this hot heat by building not one, but two tunnels! How cool is that? #edmonton #yeg #yegwx
 
Bombardier tour to reassure Edmonton train commitments on track
Bombardier officials on a stop in Edmonton are promising the new Valley Line LRT rail cars will be a “showcase” project that leave supply chain troubles in the distant past.

“You’re getting the best of Bombardier,” said Benoit Brossoit, the company’s president for the Americas Region.

“For us, Edmonton is going to be a showcase of what we really can do,” he said while sitting down with the Edmonton Journal after touring construction already underway — the new line will run between downtown and Mill Woods — and meeting with city officials.

Years of delay and defects for Toronto’s new streetcars — a similar model to Edmonton’s — have left Bombardier’s reputation bruised. The company was two years late on delivery of its first cars and had to revise the schedule multiple times, leaving citizens of Toronto stranded as the old fleet kept breaking down.

But Brossoit is now selling a message that those issues are fixed. The company invested $11 million into a new Kingston, Ont., facility in part to accommodate production of Edmonton’s new rail cars. Manufacturing, he said, is on schedule.
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http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...-reassure-edmonton-train-commitments-on-track
 
Here's an update of the line, all photos and videos taken this evening by me.


Starting down near Mill Woods Town Centre, here's what the line currently looks like at 36A Avenue:




At 38 Avenue, looking south:




And looking north. And what do I spy? Rails! :D




Bridge across Whitemud Drive progressing nicely:




First structural steel going up at Operations and Maintenance Facility:




Lots of progress near Wagner Station. Here's one of the pylons just north of CN's spur line:






And new automatic warning devices for the CN spur line! (Maybe I'm the only one to get excited about this?)




Pretty bad digital zoom cell phone shot of Wagner Station, as seen from 75 Street:




And making our way quite a bit north, here's what is taking shape in the river valley:






I also recorded a drive along the whole route, which may give you a little bit more of an idea of how construction is progressing:



And if you want to see how things have changed so far, take a look at this video I recorded back in 2014 of the exact same route:

 
Next stage of Valley Line West engagement underway
Public meetings scheduled to recruit for citizen working groups
August 10, 2017

Meetings with citizen-based groups are an important way the City of Edmonton engages with citizens on LRT projects. As it prepares for future construction, the City is working with communities along the Valley Line West corridor to establish citizen working groups (CWGs).

The groups will be neighbourhood-focused and organized to reflect the common characteristics and area-specific interests of five distinct zones along the alignment, from Downtown to Lewis Farms. Some common subjects that may be raised in CWG meetings include construction plans, traffic impacts, landscape design, and the potential for non-resident parking and neighbourhood shortcutting.

The CWGs will provide the project team and stakeholders with a forum for:
  • establishing constructive, two-way conversation;
  • building relationships and trust;
  • identifying issues, opportunities and concerns; and
  • minimizing and mitigating impacts related to detailed design and construction.
In addition to seats for community leagues and local organizations, each group will have two zone-specific representatives from the community-at-large. These representatives will be peer-selected at the following public meetings, which all interested Edmontonians are invited to attend:

87 Avenue (178 Street - Lewis Farms) Zone
Belmead Community Hall
Date: Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Time: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Location: 9109 - 182 Street

87 Avenue (Meadowlark - 178 Street) Zone
West Meadowlark Community Hall
Date: Thursday, August 17, 2017
Time: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Location: 9311 - 165 Street

Stony Plain Road (Groat Road - 159 Street) Zone
West End Christian Reformed Church
Date: Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Time: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Location: 10015 149 Street

Downtown (102 Street - Groat Road) Zone
Robertson-Wesley United Church
Date: Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Time: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Location: 10209 123 Street

156 Street (100 Avenue - 87 Avenue) Zone
West Jasper / Sherwood Community Hall
Date: Thursday, August 24, 2017
Time: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Location: 9620- 152 Street

Public input has played, and continues to play, an essential role in shaping the Valley Line LRT, from the identification of the corridor in 2009, through the development of the concept plan, to the completion of preliminary design in 2013. Thousands of Edmontonians have been engaged through meetings, presentations, open houses and online.

To view the zones and and for more project information, visit edmonton.ca/valleylinewest.

Media contacts:
Alison Burns
Communications Advisor
LRT Delivery, Valley Line West
780-496-8191
 
Edmonton bets $1.8 billion on LRT. Will private investment follow?
Success on the $1.8-billion Valley Line LRT will be measured not just by the people it moves but by the new residential towers and a string of mini-downtowns around at least five of the coming LRT stations.

But it’s no sure bet, said one local expert. Edmonton’s tax regime will work against redevelopment. Land speculators will profit from sitting on vacant land and aging buildings as the new line drives up prices. It could take 20 years or longer to reap rewards if the city isn’t pushing, prodding and stepping up with carrots and sticks.

“Having these (residential) projects built shores up the value of doing the Valley Line in the first place. But the private individual is left to risk their own money,” said Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson, a local manger with EllisDon and founder of the Canadian Transit-oriented Development Institute.

“Once that planning (and zoning) discussion is done, what’s next?”
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http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...billion-on-lrt-will-private-investment-follow
 
Take a tour of the Valley Line and its traffic pinch points — a rail line designed for development
Edmonton’s original plan for light rail to Mill Woods was to use the existing north-south Canadian Pacific Rail line and speed commuters past congestion.

That conversation changed in the mid-2000s because council and senior officials decided a suburban system with its large right-of-ways and surface parking lots would not create the type of compact, urban development needed to counter sprawl.

That’s why the Valley Line is a hybrid. It has a suburban-style station in the Davies Industrial neighbourhood, but along the rest of the line it weaves through areas for maximum re-development potential, while trying to avoid the worst traffic impacts.

As Edmonton slogs through its first summer of Valley Line construction, the Journal sat with the city’s key experts to get the full picture. Take a virtual tour with us below. The lessons learned here will impact Edmonton’s west line and the new south-central connection, both pitched as similar low-floor LRTs.
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http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...h-points-a-rail-line-designed-for-development
 
A little stuck? Edmonton agrees to release full traffic-congestion estimates for Valley Line LRT
City of Edmonton officials are set to finally reveal Thursday which clogged intersections are about to get worse up and down the Valley LRT Line.

It’s the type of information that left councillors “gobsmacked” when the first Metro Line trains prepared for passengers. It is a picture of worst-case wait times and queue lengths for every major intersection on a line that snakes past key traffic veins and arteries across southeast Edmonton.

The Journal pushed for an early release of the data so residents will know what to expect well in advance. It also gives context as council debates new development and possible traffic solutions — widening 75 Street north of Wagner Road and finding new park ‘n ride locations.

“My constituents have been asking all the way up and down the line,” said Ward 11 Coun. Mike Nickel.

Nickel is hoping to see traffic projects along the route funded in the next capital budget.

“Our intersections are going to be failing at 66 Street and 23 Avenue. I’m kind of shooting in the dark when I’m asking for road widening,” he said, frustrated it’s taken this long to make the data public.
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http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...ffic-congestion-estimates-for-valley-line-lrt
 
City of Edmonton aims to educate neighbourhoods about west Valley Line LRT
As the City of Edmonton gears up for future Valley Line LRT construction to the west end, it’s asking those in the area for their take on the project.

The city is hosting public meetings for the Valley Line West “Citizen Working Groups.” The aim is to recruit active community members to join.

The City of Edmonton established groups in the five distinct zones along the future path of the LRT, which would stretch from downtown to the far west end of the city.

Those groups will be comprised of people who live in the surrounding neighbourhoods and stakeholders from the community —who are able to speak to local concerns and bring project awareness to others.
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http://globalnews.ca/news/3676443/c...te-neighbourhoods-about-west-valley-line-lrt/
 
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