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A large concrete mass in the North Saskatchewan River is forcing the delay of the southeast portion of the Valley Line LRT project until at least 2021.

TransEd said on Tuesday the 13 kilometres of LRT between Millwoods and Edmonton’s downtown would be late after the concrete mass was found in early 2018. The $1.8-billion project was originally slated to be open in 2020.

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“We have worked with the city on several initiatives to mitigate delays, including the sequenced closure of the downtown intersections this past summer, which reopened ahead of schedule, and the complete closure of 95 Avenue which recently reopened,” TransEd stated in an email. “We are focused on continued work through the winter on critical infrastructure like the Tawatinâ Bridge. We are very pleased with the construction progress made in summer 2019, despite weather challenges that impacted our work as well as LRV production and delivery.”

Ward 11 Coun. Mike Nickel said he’s been warning the line would be late for years and many residents in his ward are frustrated with how slow the project has been going.

“We’re having problems every time we seem to touch LRT,” he said. “We’re done. It has been six years. Are they going to stick to these next rounds of deadlines? I don’t have confidence in that either.”

jlabine@postmedia.com

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