Construction started Monday on a project to connect the downtown to the river valley near the Low Level Bridge.
On Monday, city officials were on hand for the official ground breaking for the project that will increase access to the river valley.
Once it’s complete, the mechanized river valley access project will connect 100 Avenue to the river valley by a staircase and funicular – with a viewing deck at the top and a promenade at the bottom.
“This has been a bit of a unique way in terms of the approach to design, we had very tight timelines on construction and when the funding would run out,” Rob Marchak, Director of Strategic Projects said.
Construction is set to start this week, even though all design components haven’t been completed.
The project is mainly funded by the provincial and federal governments – and the urgency to its construction, as it had to be built by the fall for the funds to be available.
Councillor Ben Henderson said the city didn’t have any other options for spending the money on other projects.
“It couldn’t be, its money that was given to us very specifically quite a number of years ago for the river valley,” Henderson said.
The project has a budget of $24 million, and the City said it is part of the River Valley Alliance projects.
In 2013, the City received $72.9 million in funding from the River Valley Alliance, and provincial and federal governments, to be spent on five initiatives to increase access to the river valley. Another project is a waterfront promenade built at the Rossdale Generating Station.
The City said it contributed $1.7 million to the project.
Edmontonians who spend time in the river valley will notice the stairs at the construction site will be closed starting this week, and the City said construction is expected to be finished by the fall of 2017.
With files from Shanelle Kaul
