A signature infrastructure project is completed on time and under budget… but the project gets stuck in limbo when the signalling system doesn’t work.
How do you regain the trust and support of citizens for a new extension on a ‘failed’ project?
Opening in the fall of 2015, the Metro Line LRT added a 3.3 km extension to the existing LRT network, running from Churchill LRT Station in Downtown Edmonton to NAIT, just northwest of the City’s core. As a part of the City of Edmonton’s Transportation Master Plan, the Metro Line will continue to be expanded through communities northwest of the Downtown core in two phases over the next 12 years.
Working with the City of Edmonton, Reverb team members have been involved in both the construction of the initial piece of the Metro Line and in the concept validation and preliminary design stages of the expansion.
- Strategic Planning & Issues Management – Team members developed and executed communications planning and strategies to manage media and public expectations regarding project progress and challenges, often in negative/difficult circumstances.
- Rebuilding Public Trust – Team members guided and worked with the City through new project information sharing, engagement responsiveness, and public transparency processes to rebuild and foster community trust in the City’s planned expansion. This involved difficult conversations and setting hard accountability expectations with both internal and external stakeholders over a period of several years.
Stakeholder Engagement & Outreach – Through a combination of stakeholder meetings, public events, community pop-ups, the project team connected with hundreds of people over the course of the initial project and through the second phase. During preliminary design, public events were held to gather input on grade separation options for all of the major crossings along the alignment.