Project Profile: Valley Line Southeast LRT Communications & Engagement
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Valley Line Southeast LRT
Thirteen kilometres of new low-floor LRT from Mill Woods to downtown Edmonton, built through neighbourhoods, river valley and one of the busiest corridors in the city.
- Client
- AECOM, Owner's Engineer
- Project Owner
- City of Edmonton
- Scale
- 13 km, Mill Woods to Downtown
- Role
- Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
A line this long does not pass through a city quietly.
The Valley Line Southeast crossed residential streets, established neighbourhoods, the river valley and a downtown core that stayed open for business the whole way through. Every one of those settings came with a different audience and a different question. reVerb worked on the communications that answered them.
A P3 Build Through a Living City
The Valley Line Southeast is a 13-kilometre urban low-floor LRT extension connecting Mill Woods to downtown Edmonton.
The City of Edmonton delivered the line as a public-private partnership, with TransEd Partners as the design-build contractor. reVerb worked as part of the Owner's Engineer team, directly for AECOM on behalf of the City.
That position sat between the owner and the build. It meant staying accurate about what was happening in the field while staying aligned with the City's public voice.
- P3 Delivery
- Urban Low-Floor LRT
- Active Construction Corridor
Four Streams, One Voice
The scope ran from printed collateral through to standing in front of a camera.
Community Messaging
Public information booklets, safety collateral and digital updates written for the people living next to the work.
Stakeholder Engagement
Coordination with businesses, community leagues, schools and residents to manage expectations before concerns became complaints.
Construction Communications
Notices, detour information and schedule updates issued as the work moved from one area to the next.
Media Relations
Spokesperson support, prepared statements, media tours and event coordination with project partners.
One Year on the Corridor
Public-facing activity was tracked and reported month by month. These figures cover a single calendar year of the build.
- 876Stakeholder touchpoints and meetings, from large and small businesses to community leagues, schools and hospitals.
- 480Public inquiries handled, made up of 390 citizen inquiries and 90 Councillor inquiries. September was the busiest month with 68.
- 18,184Community engagement interactions recorded from January to December.
On the Record, on Message
Media relations ran through the whole project rather than sitting at the end of it.
reVerb supported spokesperson duties, prepared statements, coordinated media tours and helped run events with project partners. The work happened in a high-visibility setting with political attention on the schedule, so accuracy mattered more than volume.
Responses stayed aligned with what crews were doing in the field. Stakeholders heard about milestones from the project before they heard about them somewhere else.
The Day the Line Carried People
Years of notices, detours and safety messaging ended with a platform full of Edmontonians waiting for a first ride.
Opening brought a different communications job. Wayfinding, service information and safety around a low-floor line running in mixed traffic all had to land quickly with riders who had never used this kind of LRT before.
The Valley Line Southeast went on to win two awards at the Consulting Engineers of Alberta Showcase Awards Gala.
From Construction to Service
Long Projects Are Won in the Quiet Months
Public confidence on a multi-year build is not held by launch announcements. It is held by the notice that arrives before the road closes, the inquiry that gets answered the same week and the business owner who knows who to call.
Doing that at the scale of a 13-kilometre line means tracking it. The reporting behind these figures is what let the project team see where pressure was building and move resources to it.
What Carried the Work
- One message across the owner, the contractor and the field
- Notices issued by area, ahead of the work
- Every inquiry logged, routed and closed
- Monthly reporting the project team could act on
- Media responses ready before the call came
Communications Support on Your Next Capital Project?
Talk to reVerb about stakeholder engagement, construction communications and media relations for major infrastructure.
