Two major events in the city are making plans, ahead of construction work on bridges along Groat Road – construction is expected to begin in April, and continue into 2020.

The president of the World Triathlon Series Edmonton is looking forward to seeing upgrades to the Groat Road Bridge.

“It’ll be great to have a new bridge there,” Sheila O’Kelly said. “In 2014 that bridge started to look a little bit dilapidated in comparison to the rest of the course and the river valley.”

In August, 2020, the bridge will be back on the triathlon route, after upgrading work is completed on that bridge, and the two others along Groat Road.

The city is feeling the pressure to meet the slated end date for the project.

“Definitely there’s pressure…based on the history,” Sam El Mohtar, director of Transportation, Infrastructure Delivery at the City of Edmonton, said.

In recent years, the city’s track record on bridge completions has been lacking, one project delayed due to warped bridge girders, another pushed back by material delivery issues.

“We are again confident in the teams we are working with, and we learn from experiences,” El Mohtar said.

When construction gets underway, the City said one lane in each direction will remain open, as will access to parks in the area.

As for the major events in the area, the route for the next two triathlons will change and the Heritage Festival is adjusting plans.

“We want more people to walk, more people to take bikes, we’re working with the city to get a way for people to come down the river,” Jim Gibbon with the Heritage Festival Association said.

The water access idea may not be an option until 2019 when new docks are built. This summer, organizers plan to use rickshaws and open more nearby parking lots to festival attendees.

“We’ve been working to actively decrease traffic in there anyways so if we can get it down another 20 or 25 percent, I don’t think it’ll affect us that much,” Gibbon said.

As for bridge construction, the west half of the bridge over the river will be demolished in 2018, and the east half the following year – work on all three bridges is expected to be finished by 2020. The project is expected to cost $48 million.

With files from Nicole Weisberg