London closes 2025 construction season, looks ahead to 2026

The City of London announced the close of the 2025 construction season after another year of essential infrastructure work. Much of this year’s work has been happening beneath the surface, laying the foundations for growth, improving roads, and upgrading water and transit systems to meet the community’s current and future needs.

2025 highlights

This year, the Adelaide Underpass was completed and celebrated with the community, easing traffic, reducing emergency response times, and creating safer, more accessible routes. The project received the 2025 Municipal Engineers Association (MEA) Award for engineering innovation and impact.

Major transportation projects also progressed throughout the year. Improvements at Fanshawe Park Road and Richmond Street, the Oxford and Gideon roundabout, and Colonel Talbot Road have enhanced safety, expanded cycling and pedestrian connections, and prepared key corridors for future growth.

This year, the City reconstructed 61 lane-kilometres of road, added 11 km of bike lanes and 10 km of sidewalks, upgraded 25 intersections, and installed over 11 km of storm and sanitary sewers along with more than 9 km of watermains. 

Across the city, neighbourhood streets were upgraded, along with other annual work that brought new sidewalks, upgraded traffic signals, and intersection improvements. At the same time, underground upgrades to water, sewer, and storm infrastructure are helping reduce future disruptions and extend the life of the City’s streets through our Infrastructure Renewal Program.

Looking ahead, Rapid Transit construction is making steady progress. The Downtown Loop is now fully open, with buses running in dedicated lanes and signals coordinated to improve travel times and reliability, marking the first complete segment of London’s Rapid Transit network. Existing LTC bus routes and services have started to use the infrastructure this year ahead of Rapid Transit operations beginning in the future.

King Street at Wellington Street, showing the Downtown Loop’s eastbound bus-only contraflow lane. (City of London)

Construction continues on the East London Link and Wellington Gateway corridors, with underground work and bridge upgrades progressing well on Oxford Street, at the Oxford at Highbury intersection, at the Highbury Bridge, Clark’s Bridge, and along Wellington Road. Paving the bus lanes and completing the transit shelters is planned for 2026.

Construction milestones reached this year:

• The Adelaide Underpass Celebration was held with the community once landscaping and the restoration of McMahen Park were complete, allowing us to properly celebrate the project with the community.
• The Downtown Loop is now fully complete, with red lanes and signals in place and all buses using the dedicated loop.
• Buses began travelling in both directions on King Street between Old East Village and downtown using the new red bus lanes, marking the first phase of two-way transit operations ahead of full Rapid Transit service in 2027.
• Improvements at the Fanshawe Park Road and Richmond Street intersection are finished, including underground servicing, mobility improvements and clean-up work.
• The Oxford Street and Gideon Drive intersection was upgraded to a roundabout to accommodate high daily traffic volumes and add new sidewalks, bike paths, traffic-calming features, and upgraded water and sewer infrastructure.
• Projects completed in 2025:

• Adelaide Underpass
• Downtown Loop Phase 3
• Oxford and Gideon Intersection Improvement
• Colonel Talbot Road Upgrades
• Adelaide Street North Bridge Rehabilitation
• Central Avenue Cycling Improvement
• Byron Bridge Rehabilitation
• Cycling improvements on both Ridout and Commissioners  
• Local Road Reconstruction Program (Sundridge Cout, Edmunds Place, Parks Edge Close, Lochern Road, Grace Sreet, Elmgrove Crescent, Pinegrove Crescent, Pine Valley Boulevard, and Pine Valley Lane)
• Arterial Road Renewal Program (River Road, Dundas Street, Gainsborough Road, and White Oak Road)
• New Sidewalk Program (Luxton Drive, King Edward Avenue, Newbold Street, Oxford Street East, Tennent Avenue, University Avenue, Broughdale Avenue, Michael Street, and Hyde Park Road)

Some multi-year construction projects will continue work over the winter months. These projects include: 

Wellington Gateway 

• Phase 3 – Harlech Gate to Wilkins Street
• Phase 4 – Exeter to Harlech Gate 

East London Link:

• Phase 4 – Oxford Street
• Highbury Bridge

Bradley Avenue Extension – White Oak Road to Jalna Boulevard 

London Downtown Sewer Capacity Expansion Project – Forks of the Thames River

Mud Creek East Branch 

• Phase 2B – Oxford Street east of Proudfoot Lane

• What to expect in 2026

Next year will be another busy year for our growing city. In addition to the projects working through the winter, construction will continue in the spring on these multi-year projects.

• Florence, Eleanor and York infrastructure renewal projects
• Springbank Reservoir 2 demolition and expansion project
• York Street and Wellington Street infrastructure renewal project

Carry over work will resume in spring 2026 to complete:

• Sunningdale Road and Richmond Street intersection improvements
• Hillside, McStay and Taplow infrastructure renewal projects
• Tartan and Sovereign Mat Replacement projects

• New projects starting in 2026

Details about the 2026 construction season and London’s Renew Construction Program will be shared early in the spring. Some major projects planned for construction in 2026 include: 

• Queen’s Bridge Rehabilitation on Queens Avenue
• Western Road / Sarnia Road / Philip Aziz Avenue Corridor and Intersection Improvements
• Oxford Street West widening
• Kilally Road upgrades
• Sunningdale Road widening
• Highbury Avenue South rehabilitation
• Start of East London Link Phase 5 (2026–2027) – Dundas Street
• Start of Wellington Gateway Phase 2 (2026–2028) – Wellington to Southdale

The 2026 construction season will continue to deliver major upgrades needed across the city, focusing on strengthening critical road corridors, improving intersections, and expanding capacity to support growth. 

These projects will also extend the life of bridges and other key infrastructure, while enhancing safety and reducing congestion.

Next year will also see continued investment in rapid transit and active transportation, further connecting neighbourhoods and supporting sustainable travel options for Londoners.

Featued image: Aerial view of the Adelaide Underpass, eliminating train-related traffic interruptions on Adelaide Street. (City of London)