Welcome to construction season, London. Here's what the city is working on
Close to $300 million in projects are beginning and continuing this year
The officials are warning residents to pack their patience when they leave home during what's set to be yet another record-breaking construction season in the city.
The projects that are bound to get on the nerves of Londoners — and specifically drivers — and cause delays on the roads are essential for helping London's transportation and infrastructure networks keep up with the past few years' population boom, engineers say.
While Londoners were subjected this year and last to construction that, in many places, ran right through the winter, the true construction rush is starting right about now.
"April is about the time things start to kick off. This is the point where you really start to see projects kicking off again," said Jennie Dann, the city's director of construction and infrastructure services.
LISTEN | It's construction season! Here's what to expect
The city is set to spend $170 million on new projects this year, with about $125 million in carryover from multi-year projects that already started, she said.
In 2025, Londoners can expect to see progress on a number of multi-year projects, the completion of some, and the beginning of others. Here's a short list of some of the highlights.
Rapid transit progress
London's bus rapid transit (BRT) system has long been in the works, but according to Dann, it's going to see a significant amount of progress this year.
"We actually have more construction of BRT behind us than ahead of us at this point, which is exciting," Dann said. "We have multiple multi-year contracts that we started last year that are underway on the east and the south corridors, but we're pretty much finished the downtown loop at this point."
Construction for the east London link will continue, with most of the disruptions expected on a stretch of Oxford Street East between Highbury Avenue and Second Street.
Traffic slowdowns will also be plentiful on the Highbury bridge near Dundas Street, where the road is being widened to add two dedicated bus lanes.
Elsewhere, the Wellington Gateway project will chug along, adding to years of slowdowns on the well-travelled Wellington Road. It'll continue the work of adding dedicated transit lanes and other improvements to the road.
Lane restrictions and sidewalk closures are expected on Wellington between Wilkins Street to just north of Exeter Road.
Downtown sewer upgrades
More people means more waste, and more demand for sewer capacity. As one of the projects that's already underway, the London Downtown Sewer Capacity Expansion Project seeks to address that, said Dann.
"We're going to be doing upgrades to our sanitary system, like the the upgrade of the replacement of the siphon under the Thames River. That's going to open up capacity for housing downtown and intensification, so that's really important," she said.
The capacity expansion will mostly manifest as work at Mitchell A Baran Park and Ivey Park. The project has drawn ire from some as it's required the removal of some trees in the parks.
"That's something that we look at very carefully through the design process. We include arborists in our forestry group and we look at how many trees are impacted by the actual construction itself, but we also look at the health of the trees," Dann said
Work will also continue on projects in the core such as the York and Wellington sewer separation that has made York largely inaccessible between Wellington and Clarence for months.
Colonel Talbot Road upgrades
Construction on Colonel Talbot continues, with the portion connecting Talbot Village to Lambeth set to receive major upgrades.
The construction, which started in the spring of 2024, will result in plenty of delays on Colonel Talbot between Southdale and Main Street.
This year, a closure will be required between Clayton Walk and Pack road, meaning detours for drivers.
The pay-off will be an road with concrete curbs, sidewalks, boulevard bike paths and pedestrian crossovers.
Bradley Avenue extension
Londoners confused as to why Bradley Avenue seems to start and stop again with a gap in the middle need wonder no more.
Work is expected to begin on a project to connect Bradley between White Oak and Wharncliffe Roads, finally linking the two disconnected ends of the road.
The city says the project will create a four-lane street complete with sidewalks, in-boulevard bike lanes, landscaping and more.
While construction can be difficult for even the most patient and seasoned of drivers, Dann has some tips for drivers.
"We know that navigating construction can be frustrating, but you can make some adjustments to your routine and still get to all your destinations," she said. "The biggest tip for drivers and for everyone is to plan ahead and give yourself a little bit more time. I always suggest using either Google Maps or the Waze app to plan your trip in advance."
The City of London has a full list of its top 10 construction projects online.