London gets set for more record-breaking construction
Oxford and Highbury is just one part of the city being met with construction in 2024.
The City of London is set to be hit with another year of major construction projects.
This comes after last year’s construction season, which saw the city break its record for total investment costs at over $200-million in 2023.
Less than a year later though, the city has already said it will be breaking that record, with $270-million slated in construction investments for 2024.
The investments are coming through the city’s Renew Construction Program, which the city says is meant to support London’s vision to be more sustainable and infrastructure-ready for future generations.
“2024 is another record-breaking year for London’s Renew Construction Program,” said Director of Construction and Infrastructure Services with the City of London, Jennie Dann. “Requiring significant coordination with various city teams and our external partners to minimize impacts to businesses, residents and everyone commuting through the city this year.”
While some investments will be going towards new initiatives, many of this year’s projects will enhance the existing infrastructure, with there being a focus on creating a better-connected transportation network across the city that is safe, efficient, affordable and environmentally responsible.
On the day-to-day side, Londoners will be seeing improvements to more than 35 intersections as well as new bike lanes and sidewalks, but the city will also be looking towards upgrades and improvements to the aging underground infrastructure.
“We are very excited to deliver these projects in 2024 that will bring long-term infrastructure improvements to support our rapidly growing city, and London’s vision towards a more sustainable and emissions-free community,” Dann said.
Some of the main projects being targeted, consisting of the city’s top-10 projects for the year, include:
- Adelaide St. N. Underpass
- Wellington Gateway Phase 1 and Downtown Loop Phase 3
- Clark’s Bridge Widening — Wellington Gateway
- East London Link Phase 3
- Victoria Bridge Replacement
- York St. and Wellington St. Infrastructure Renewal
- Fanshawe Park Rd. and Richmond St. Intersection Improvements
- Sunningdale Rd. and Richmond St. Intersection Improvements
- Colonel Talbot Upgrades
- Wellington Gateway Phases 3 and 4
Most notable for Fanshawe students will be the continued construction on Highbury between Oxford and Dundas as part of the East London Link project.
Through the course of the year, the city plans to add more than 18 kilometres of new bike lanes and 16 kilometres of new sidewalk. As well, the city aims to repair over 20 kilometres of existing sidewalks and reconstruct over 89 lane-kilometres of road.
With yet another big year for construction, the city is encouraging everyone to adapt to using zipper merges as often as possible, planning ahead using apps such as Google Maps or Waze, as well as visiting the city’s interactive map at london.ca/roadwork in order to stay up to date with active projects and detours.
“It is exciting to see our city grow, and all these projects are essential to support that growth.”