City administration doesn’t recommend funding to repair arterial roads in 2026 budget

Edmonton City Hall in an undated photo. (CTV News Edmonton)

A report attached to the 2026 budget is not recommending that the city put money towards repairing arterial roads.

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The city administration’s report outlines three different levels of paving for Edmonton’s arterial roads with a $5 million, $7 million and $10 million options.

Though the city will be raising the property taxes 6.4 per cent, administration says it’s not enough.

“There is no capital budget to support any of the options identified, and limited opportunity to allocate funding with the city’s available resources,” said the report.

If an option were approved, administration said it would result in a corporate funding pool deficit of $7.1 million.

Roads that were part of the city’s arterial road paving renewal analysis include stretches of 156 Street, 153 Avenue, Fort Road, Callingwood Road, 113 Street, 34 Avenue, 34 Street and 38 Avenue.

Ward Karhiio Coun. Keren Tang made a motion in June asking administration to conduct an analysis of arterial road paving renewal based on condition priorities and to provide a report with options to increase the funding for the Arterial Renewal Program in 2026 as part of the Fall Supplementary Capital Budget Adjustment.

Now she wants the city to look at the minimum threshold as a potential budget adjustment for arterial road repairs to prolong their lifespan over the next few years.

“Obviously (with) more money, more roads can be covered, but I know we’re also under huge constraints,” said Tang. “We talk a lot about city core services. If this is not core service, I don’t know what is.”

She said city roads and traffic are under pressure due to population growth.

“We’ve been under-investing in our arterial road assets for quite some time,” said Tang. “The report in the budget this time shows that we’re only funding at 24 per cent of the ideal investment.

“I think infrastructure is really critical to the functioning of the city. This is a lens I’m bringing to this budget adjustment, but certainly a lens I’ll be bringing to the next four-year budget cycle as well.”

Mayor Andrew Knack said he will be looking to push paving as well as planning and design for road widenings until the next budget cycle starting in 2027.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson