HOISTED INTO SHAPE

TRANSIT
HOISTED
INTO SHAPE
Marigold Infrastructure Partners’
use of the gantry and prefabricated
concrete segments had huge timesaving potential and offered major
benefits for reducing local road
closures during the construction of the
Edmonton Valley West LRT.
Edmonton LRT line delivered with
minimal disruptions by Brad Baumle
VER THE LAST YEAR, a 100-metre gantry crane has taken
shape and loomed over west Edmonton. Piece-bypiece, it hoists up giant concrete segments and connects them to form the elevated guideway that will
allow the Edmonton Valley Line West LRT trains to
pass over. Located in a complex local environment
of an emergency hospital and one of the busiest malls in the
world, the gantry is a 昀椀rst-of-its-kind for Edmonton LRT
construction and an integral part of delivering the project
with minimal disruptions to local communities.
Valley Line West will add 14 kilometres of track from
downtown, west, past the West Edmonton Mall out to
Lewis Farms. Once complete, trains will run every 昀椀ve
minutes along the route at peak times. Although most of
the tracks are at grade, there is a 2.1-kilometre elevated
guideway taking shape around West Edmonton Mall and
the Misericordia Hospital. This is a high-tra昀케c area that
needs 24/7 access for emergency vehicles, so the project
needs to be designed and delivered in a way that does not
delay emergency vehicles getting into the hospital.
Marigold Infrastructure Partners is a joint venture made
up of Colas and Parsons, bringing together strong local
experience through subsidiaries like Standard General Edmonton, and experience on major global transit projects.
The project started when COVID-19 restrictions were still
very much in force, making it di昀케cult for people with
international experience to gather in person.
In designing and planning construction for a project
of this scale, we had to instill local considerations in the
minds of this largely virtual international team to ensure
all the local communities, businesses and services along
the route had been given proper consideration. Together
with the City of Edmonton, we connected with key organizations and stakeholders early on to help inform them of
our approach to construction and we continue to engage
with these local groups on a regular basis to get their input
to guide our approach.
SOVDI MEDIA
O
Brad Baumle is
construction manager at
Marigold Infrastructure
Partners.
24
RENEW CANADA – MARCH/APRIL 2024
RENEWCANADA.NET

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