Activists and community members have been calling for an adult trauma center on Chicago’s South Side for years. Despite the area’s ongoing issues with a lack of emergency trauma services, it looked like the support would never come.

The University of Chicago Medicine announced that an adult trauma center will open in May 2018. DNA Info reports that a new emergency room will open on Jan. 8 and will be open to trauma care services a few months later. 

Construction for the new facilities started last fall after a board unanimously voted to approve the expansion. The project will create a new emergency department that’s 76 percent larger than the one currently in use and include four trauma bays for treating patients, private patient rooms and separate entrances for employees and patients.

The Chicago Tribune reports that University of Chicago Medicine also plans to add a dedicated cancer hospital to its University of Chicago Medical Center campus as part of the overall $269 million project.