Edmontonians face one project delay after another

If Edmonton has a theme song this year, it could well be Sitting, Waiting, Wishing by singer/songwriter Jack Johnson.

With the news Wednesday that yet another major city building project will be delayed, the lyrics mayby now seem familiar to Edmontonians, whether they've actuallyheard the song or not.

"Keep building me up, then shooting me down," Johnson sings. "Just wait a minute ... just sitting and waiting."

People in Edmonton who drive or take transit, which is pretty much everybody, have been sitting and waiting for months for three major projects, only to learn about delay after delay.

The latest bad news cameWednesday, when the city announcedthat the Walterdale Bridge project will now be delayed by a full year.

• New Walterdale Bridge delayed a full year, city says

Another day, another delay.

All in all, it's been a tough year for the city.

After more than a year of delays, city officials said late last month they're "cautiously optimistic" the Metro LRT line will open in May or early June

The line, which connects NAIT with the downtown Churchill Station, was originally slated to open in April 2014, but has been delayed six times because of problems integrating the line's signalling with the existing LRT system.

Then there's the whole Groat Road mess.

After weeks of traffic snarls and detours, the city re-opened the road totraffic on Monday.

City officials declared the road safe for traffic after crews spent the last four weeks securing girders on the 102nd Avenue bridge.

The city closed Groat Road on March 13 to begin installing the girders for the $32-million bridge replacement project. Three days later, four of the bridge's girders buckled, bringing construction on the bridge to a halt.

The cost of the delay caused by the buckled girders will be substantial, but city officials have said it will be paid for by the contractor.

The 100-year-old bridge was closed in July 2014. At the time, the city said the replacement would be open to traffic by this fall. That timeline could now be delayed by up to a year.