The City of Edmonton is not unique in facing the challenges of aging infrastruture and insufficient funding to address those issues. Until recently, the pace of neighbourhood renewal relied heavily on the availability of sporadic giant funding from the Provincial government and the associated opportunities to divert City funding. However, that effort fell far short of the need. Between 1988 and 2008, Edmonton reconstructed or resurfaced 50 neighbourhoods, or an average of 2.4 per year. Given that the City currently has close to 300 communities, the historical pace would have resulted in a 125 year service cycle for any individual neighbourhood- well beyond the normal service life of surface works. Recognizing that great cities ae based on uality neighbourhoods, City Council agreed to implement a dedicated 2% inrease in tax levy in 2009 and each subsequent year, until a sufficient fund could be established to adequately sustain the infrastructure needs of all City neighbourhoods. This paper will discuss the renewal program that has been developed to achieve this goal, the need for advanced levels of coordination with underground infrastructures, the challenge to increase construction capacity within the local region, and the management of citizen expectations as the program is being established.
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