The Valley Line West LRT will feature an elevated guideway that runs along 87 Avenue between 163 Street and 182 Street. The guideway will feature two new LRT stations: Misericordia Station and West Edmonton Mall Station. Marigold Infrastructure Partners (MIP) will begin constructing the guideway by drilling the foundations at 174 Street and working eastward toward 165 Street.
Most of the work will occur during daytime hours (7 a.m. – 9 p.m. Monday – Saturday, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. Sundays) and is expected to last several months. To prepare for construction, the Marigold Team installed barriers to close the westbound curb lane and sidewalks on the north side of 87 Avenue between 170 Street and 174 Street. The team leveled the land to create a safe work site. There will be similar lane closures and site preparation at the Misericordia Hospital site later in 2022.
The drilling rig being used to dig the foundation of the Elevated Guideway is expected to arrive the week of October 11, 2021. The rig will arrive in pieces and a crane will be used to assemble it. Assembly will take place onsite near 174 Street and is expected to take approximately one week.
It is anticipated that holes for the first caisson (a large, reinforced concrete column that will support the piers for the elevated guideway) will be drilled in mid-October. Between 165 Street and 178 Street, the drilling rig will drill 35 shafts, each ~25m deep, to support the foundation of the Elevated Guideway for the West Edmonton Mall and Misericordia Stations. Drilling will begin near 87 Avenue and 174 Street and progress eastward to 165 Street. This work is expected to last several months.
Once the foundations are in place, columns will be built for the superstructure to rest upon. These bridge structures will be pre-cast elsewhere and installed one by one once complete. Following the installation of the bridge deck, the station construction will begin. Construction of the foundations, columns, and superstructure is expected to last until 2025.