Drivers detoured as major piece of Adelaide Street underpass is lowered into place

A long train sat idle on the tracks in central London, Ont. Wednesday afternoon, stretching across several blocks in the Adelaide Street and Central Avenue neighbourhood.

On area streets, impatience grows among motorists, as long lines of cars had to wait out the train, including driver Lisa Demarco, who sat in her car on William Street.

“I believe it’s going [on at] both ends of the city right now,” she remarked. “Doesn’t matter where you try to bypass, you’ll get stopped by the train.”

And it’s not going to get any better — at least not for a few days.

Adelaide Street North between McMahon and Elias Streets will be closed until the end of the workweek, while rail traffic will also be shut down for at least 36 hours.

Using a massive crane, work crews will lift the first of two new rail bridges into place for the Adelaide Street underpass project.

Director of Construction and Infrastructure Services Jennie Dann said it’s a major piece of the project, “So we’re going to be putting in the rail bridge which will then allow us to excavate the underpass for vehicles after. So we’re creating a bridge at ground level, so that then we can create the underpass underneath.”

A section of Adelaide Street North between McMahon and Elias Streets will be closed until the end of the workweek. (Source: The City of London)

The existing piece of rail on the south side is expected to be removed late Wednesday, with the new bridge lowered into place early in the morning on Thursday.

A second closure is planned for late September to lift the bridge into place on the North side of the Adelaide railway crossing.

In the meantime, the city is asking for patience from drivers.

“The official detour is Highbury [Avenue], people can use that,” said Dann. “But we recognize that’s a long way around. So if anybody is using some of the neighbourhood streets to get around we just ask that they drive with care.”

A rendering of the Adelaide Street underpass project. (Source: The City of London)

The underpass project is scheduled to for completion in the fall of 2024.

For neighbour Andy Ivonovich, it can’t come soon enough.

“It’s been going on for a long time and we’re getting pretty much tired of it,” he said “A lot of dirt. A lot of chaos, you want to say. So we can’t wait to get it done.”

The Adelaide Street underpass project has a price tag of $87.6 million.

Under normal conditions, about 24,000 vehicles travel along this stretch of Adelaide Street per day.

A train bridge and the crane that will lift it into place on the south side of the Adelaide Street North rail crossing, as seen on August 23, 2023. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)