Abstract Manager

Yellowhead Trail consists of freeway and expressway segments through Edmonton, serving over 80,000 commuters daily. It has been developed and upgraded since the early 1970s, serving as a major route for goods movement and a key transportation link in the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 16). With the expected increase in commuters, trucks, and daily trips over the next 30 years, the City of Edmonton has been pursuing conversion of Yellowhead Trail into a full freeway.

This presentation will focus on the utility relocation coordination along the 4.2 km segment of Yellowhead Trail Freeway Conversion between St. Albert Trail and 97 Street. Substantial road modifications were required to remove four existing at-grade intersections and construct two new grade-separated interchanges. A total of 15 adjacent properties were acquired, and 20 buildings demolished to expand the road right-of-way. Consequently, numerous utilities were impacted and required relocation. For scale, the project identified the need to abandon approximately:

• 25 km of overhead and underground power, telecommunication, traffic signal, and streetlighting cables
• 13 km of water, storm, and sanitary sewer lines
• 3 km of gas lines

Early collaboration with utility stakeholders was essential for identifying relocation strategies and preferred routing, with potential conflicts organized in a utility conflict matrix. Since the affected utilities included a mix of transmission and distribution lines, understanding their interdependencies to effectively stage the relocations was vital. We refined the accuracy of utility records at high-risk conflict areas through field reviews, surveying, and hydrovac investigations.

The project utilized a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) delivery model. Having a Construction Manager involved during the design phase benefited the utility coordination process by providing an earlier understanding of the project schedule, staging, and critical tasks. As a result, the project team could effectively prioritize and stage the utility relocations to stay ahead of the freeway construction scopes, mitigating conflicts and delays.

Due to the scale, complexity, and schedule constraints of the project, the utility relocations were designed and constructed in parallel with the design of the freeway, ahead of the finalized freeway construction package. A project-specific utility alignment permitting process was implemented to optimize coordination with stakeholders and mitigate schedule delays during land acquisitions.

This project provided many opportunities for utility stakeholders to improve aging infrastructure networks. Overall, major utilities were relocated outside of the core freeway lanes and interchange ramps to support sustainable operation and maintenance throughout the freeway’s lifespan.