Raf Tenderenda stands in front of a complete washout of 137 Avenue at Horseshoe Creek, between 199 Street and Starling Drive on Monday, July 27, 2026, in northwest Edmonton. Photo by Greg Southam /Postmedia

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Record rain drainage into Horsehoe Creek this week gouged a 12-metre gorge and collapsed the bridge, severing half the links from the communities to the rest of Edmonton.

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In 2024, Epcor halted a culvert improvement project planned for the area where the collapse occurred at 137 Avenue between 199 Street and Starling Drive.

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The collapse left just one way in and one way out for thousands of residents of newer neighbourhoods like Starling, Trumpeter, and Hawks Ridge — and intermittent power blackouts for many — and a fix is not any closer at hand than plans for a new road into the area, which hasn’t reportedly even been funded yet.

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A drainage engineer by profession and president of the Big Lake Community League, Raf Tenderenda lives at the corner. He saw the trouble coming long ago, just metres away from his attractive home in the Starling subdivision.

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“Three years ago, I let Epcor know the culvert underneath the road was undersized. Two years ago, I saw erosion already happening on the 137 slope. They acknowledged the culvert was undersized and that there was erosion. However, they didn’t act on it, so they didn’t do any rip-rap on it or make the inlet any bigger, they didn’t upsize it,” Tenderenda said.

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“Even simple measures like riprap (blocks for erosion control) around the site, anything. They just enforce a monitoring program. Essentially, a person came out here after every event and inspected the area, but that did really nothing for us.”

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Anthony Nardi, senior director for linear asset operations at Epcor, responded Monday with an emailed comment to a Postmedia request for interview.

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“We know there are questions about whether work to expand the culvert could have been advanced earlier. Epcor initiated a culvert improvement project in 2024. The project was paused when we learned that there were plans to move 137 Avenue (a road realignment) and that the location of the current culvert would be abandoned not long after completion,” Nardi wrote.

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“Rather than invest customer money to build long-term infrastructure that would be demolished in the near future, we implemented a monitoring and maintenance program that included both routine and post-storm inspections until more details on the future road were known. The decision would have been reassessed if monitoring indicated near-term action was required.

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“It was only after recent record-breaking rainfall events that we observed damage significant enough to warrant near-term action.”

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Nardi said the company “continues to stabilize the site.”

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“For public safety, fencing and barriers have been installed to keep residents a safe distance away from the worksite. Residents should avoid the area until further notice,” his note said.

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“Once design and construction plans are complete, the city and Epcor will work closely to secure permits and advance this work as quickly as possible. Residents will not see construction activity at the site until the design, construction plans, required permits, and associated agreements with contractors are finalized.”