In Episode 138 of Speaking Municipally, hosts Troy Pavlek and Mack Male discussed the 100 Street Funicular which was closed recently due to high temperatures.
According to the City of Edmonton, the funicular will stay closed whenever the temperature is 30 C or higher as the sealed cab can get very hot, reaching temperatures as high as 50 C. It has also closed numerous times with temperatures colder than -25 C, though a number of enhancements were made in 2019 in an attempt to better deal with cold weather.
The funicular was closed for nearly 17 days in 2020 due to unplanned maintenance, on top of nine days of planned maintenance of eight hours or more. Operational costs for 2020 were $531,602.
A total of 70,553 trips were made using the funicular in 2020, bringing the total since opening to 300,028.
Photo: The 100 Street Funicular on May 31, 2018. (Jim Hoffman/Flickr)