Ontario Construction News staff writer
The final phase of London’s Wellington Gateway rapid transit project has kicked off, with Bre-Ex Construction Inc. landing a $50.4-million contract for the job.
The local contractor received the Phase 2B contract on June 23 after presenting the lowest of four bids. Bre-Ex’s bid came to $50,416,071.33, not including HST.
L82 Construction Ltd. offered the second-lowest bid at $50,920,815.30, while J-AAR Civil Infrastructures Ltd. followed at $54,686,849.73 and KAPP Infrastructure Inc. at $56,978,778.
This final phase includes work on Wellington Road between Watson Street and just south of Base Line Road East.
Construction started on August 31 and will wrap up the essential major work needed for the Wellington Road rapid transit corridor.
The project features widening and reconstructing Wellington Road, setting up two center-running transit lanes, and building new rapid transit stations.
Crews will also take care of replacing underground infrastructure like watermains and sewers along with completing electrical work, communications upgrades, traffic signals improvements, landscaping efforts, streetscape enhancements, plus pedestrian and cycling upgrades.
Initially, construction will focus on the area north of Whetter Avenue before moving south toward Base Line Road East later in 2027.
Phase 2B is projected to carry on through 2029 with some finishing touches extending into 2030. The City has also granted a separate contract worth up to $4.8 million to Dillon Consulting Ltd. for overseeing construction inspection and managing contracts.
This project further entails making improvements to the Wellington Road S-curve between Weston Street and Moore Street where road realignment will occur as part of these upgrades.
Wellington Gateway stands as one of London’s three rapid transit corridors. The overall project encompasses dedicated transit lanes along with enhanced pedestrian and cycling routes while upgrading underground infrastructure over roughly six kilometers of Wellington Road and Wellington Street.
To ensure traffic flow during construction stages on Wellington Road remains smooth, at least one lane in each direction will stay open while access to Victoria Hospital as well as local businesses and properties is maintained.
This last phase comes after earlier segments of the Wellington Gateway project that are close to completion.
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