Edmonton, Alberta

:Edmonton redirects here. For other cities with the name Edmonton, see Edmonton (disambiguation)

Infrastructure

Transportation

Edmonton is served by Edmonton International Airport, which is the fifth busiest airport in Canada. In 2004, just over 4 million passangers used the facilities http://www.edmontonairports.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=13-68-373. Air passenger service from the Municipal Airport downtown was consolidated to the International Airport in 1996 and now is mostly used for charter planes and flight training, although small non-chartered planes with less than 19 passengers are still allowed to land at the facility.

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Edmonton is connected to British Columbia and Saskatchewan via the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16, or Yellowhead Trail within city limits), and to Calgary and Red Deer via the Queen Elizabeth II Highway (Calgary Trail, or Gateway Boulevard). Edmonton is also served by VIA Rail passenger trains. The station is located on the northern rail route near the City Centre Airport. Formerly the VIA trains arrived at the CN office tower downtown, but the downtown trackage has been abandoned to the LRT and new urban development. The High Level Rail Bridge, formerly CPs route into the downtown, remains only for summer historical streetcar usage.

Related Topics:
British Columbia - Saskatchewan - Yellowhead Highway - Highway 16 - Calgary - Red Deer - Queen Elizabeth II Highway - VIA Rail - High Level Rail Bridge

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In 1908, Edmonton began operating an electric street railway system. In 1939, trolleys replaced the trams. Today the Edmonton Transit System operates numerous bus routes as well as a Light rail transit (LRT) line running from Clareview in the northeast to the University of Alberta on the south side. In 1976, it was the first such system built by a city with a population less than one million people in North America. The line is surface level on previous railroad space in the northeast and goes underground through the downtown core. A dedicated bridge crossing the river valley leads it toward the university station. Further south LRT expansion is being developed at surface level (to come out of the tunnel just before the Health Sciences Station near the University of Alberta Hospital). The South LRT line will lead through the proposed South Campus and Southgate Mall, and eventually to the former Heritage Mall site (now being developed as Century Park, a transit-oriented development) in the south end of the city. Future north and west High Speed Transit routes (either for LRT or BRT) are currently being considered by council. Edmonton Transit also operates a system of 53 trolley buses on core Routes 3, 5, 7, 120, 133, and 135 in the central and western parts of the city. Along with Vancouver, Edmonton is one of only two major Canadian cities to still operate a trolley bus system.

Related Topics:
Edmonton Transit System - Light rail - University of Alberta

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Anthony Henday Drive (Highway 216) is a ring road transportation project which will eventually encircle the Edmonton Metropolitan area. The south west section is under construction with a tentative opening date of 2006. The south east section has recently been announced and is anticipated to open in 2007http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200501/17518283FCDE1-8C4E-4EB3-A93F13E86CE3C94F.html.

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In 1914 Edmonton adopted a new numbered street and avenue system, which with a few small modifications is still in use. The centre of the city, Jasper Avenue and 101 Street, was set as the starting point. Jasper Avenue was one of the few streets that was not given a number, but the other avenues were numbered as if Jasper Avenue had been 101 Avenue.

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Avenues run east and west; Streets run north and south. Avenue numbers increase to the north; street numbers increase to the west. When a street lies between two numbered streets, letters are used, for example, 107A Avenue lies between 107 Avenue and 108 Avenue.

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Houses with odd numbers are on the east side of a street or the south side of an avenue. Dropping the last two digits of a house number tells you what two streets or avenues the house lies between, for example 8023 135A Avenue is between 80 Street and 81 Street, and 10004 104 Avenue is between 100 Street and 101 Street.

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In the 1980s as the city grew, it began to run out of street numbers in the east and avenue numbers in the south. Therefore, in 1982 a quadrant system was adopted. Quadrant Avenue (1 Avenue; not yet built) and Meridian Street (1 Street) divide the city into four quadrants: northeast, northwest, southwest and, most recently, southeast. The vast majority of the city falls within the northwest quadrant.

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All Edmonton streets now officially have their quadrant included at the end of their names, but it is usual to omit "northwest," especially when there is no possibility of confusion with a street in another quadrant. However, the city's emergency services have begun to encourage residents to get into the habit of using quadrants in all addresses.

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Waste disposal

Edmonton's waste management services utilize a modern composting facility, the largest of its type in the world, to recycle 65 per cent of its residential waste. The co-composter is 38,690 square metres in size, equivalent to 8 football fields. It's designed to process 200,000 tonnes of residential solid waste per year and 22,500 dry tonnes of biosolids, turning them into 80,000 tonnes of compost annually.

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Electric & water distribution systems

Edmonton's first power company established itself in 1891 installing street lights along its main avenue, Jasper Ave. The power company was bought by the Town of Edmonton in 1902 and remains under municipal ownership today as EPCOR. Also in charge of water treatment, in 2002, EPCOR installed the world's largest ultraviolet (UV) water treatment system at its E.L. Smith Water Treatment Plant.

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