As a train stopped on the track at Adelaide Street and Central Avenue Saturday, cars freely flowed below on the now finished underpass. The City of London held a celebration to recognize the fully completed project which has seen traffic moving since April 2024. “I don’t know if that’s a police car or a fire truck or a land ambulance, but you hear a siren behind me, that is exactly why this underpass is important,” said Mayor Josh Morgan while standing near the underpass. “This is a critical pathway for emergency services to get to where they are, where they need to be. Let alone that, I, like every other Londoner, have been stuck here late for a meeting, waiting for a train to go by an Adelaide street.” While cars have been moving north-south for more than a year, work to complete the finishing elements and adjacent McMahen Park has been ongoing. Commuters and residents are no longer impacted by delays, congestion and safety concerns for walking, cycling, riding transit and driving." Those that live in the surrounding area including the Piccadilly Neighbours Association (PNA) say this “celebration is 100 years in the making.” “I moved in here about seven or eight years ago and the CP Rail pretty much ruled the whole neighborhood and cross streets,” says Norman Sproule, chair of the PNA. “Not just on Adelaide, but on Maitland, on Waterloo Street and every place else like that. The underpass just free things up completely for us.” Sproule says there is still some through traffic from downtown construction, but overall, the train delays are gone and that’s improved the quality of life for those in the area. Although there were a lot of smiles during the event, one neighbour wasn’t among those thrilled about the project. Gil Warren says the project came in more than 40 million dollars over the original estimate, and $88 million dollars was too much for “people who stopped for three minutes for a train every three hours.” Warren is also upset about the number of properties which were required to be purchased by the City of London to complete the underpass including the lot which once was home to Frank and Gus’ Pizza. “In order to get construction yards to do this work, the city destroyed 12 units of housing for poor people and they destroyed 12 small businesses,” said Warren. Now, he wants the city to take the surplus properties including a parking lot at Adelaide and McMahen Street and turn them into residences. “What we’re suggesting as a community is do the right thing, finish the job and build social housing on these lots,” said Warren. The $87.6 million project took three years to complete. “I know everybody sees the finished product, but under the surface we had to redirect sewers, we actually have a pumping station because there’s groundwater that we have to manage,” said Jennie Dann, London’s Director, and Construction Infrastructure Services. “This is a major corridor. We have 24,000 vehicles a day that travel on this road, so it’s not just for cars, it’s for pedestrians and connection to the community, emergency services, transit. Everybody’s benefiting from having this project done.”
