Ontario鈥檚 Premier Doug Ford wants to dig Canada鈥檚 largest city out of its traffic woes.
The pitch is to build an expressway for vehicles, and possibly transit too, under Canada鈥檚 busiest throughfare: Highway 401.
Standing roadside speaking to reporters, Ford vowed to make his pitch a reality. 鈥淚鈥檒l tell you one thing, we鈥檙e getting this tunnel built,鈥 proclaimed Ontario鈥檚 Premier as traffic crawled along behind him.
Opposition critics at the provincial legislature are already calling Ford鈥檚 plan political pageantry, with Ontario Liberal Leader, Bonnie Crombie, proclaiming, 鈥淚 really think this is a pipe dream of an idea.鈥
The tunnel, as it has been proposed, would run from the west end of the Greater Toronto Area in Mississauga to Scarborough in the east -- a distance of about 55 kilometres.
By comparison, the longest tunnel road in the world is in Norway - at 24.5 kilometers - and its only two lanes.
If Ford truly intends to see his tunnel vision through, the 鈥渂ig dig鈥 in Boston, Mass. may give a glimpse into what Ontario can expect.
Boston began planning to replace its deteriorating six-lane elevated Central Artery (I-93) freeway in 1982. Initially, it was scheduled to be completed in 1998 at an estimated cost of $2.8 billion. However, the project wasn鈥檛 completed until December 2007 at a cost of over $14.8 billion.
An unfinished tunnel section of the Big Dig construction project appears at left during a press preview of the project in Boston, Wednesday, April 5, 2000. (Steven Senne / The Associated Press)
While Toronto鈥檚 Tunnel would dwarf Boston's 鈥渂ig dig,鈥 the Research Director of the Urban Analytics Institute at the Toronto Metropolitan University, Murtaza Haider, believes that shouldn鈥檛 stop the Greater Toronto Area from completing a feasibility study.
鈥淭he 401 was built as a bypass. It鈥檚 beyond capacity. You have 450-thousand vehicles pass through its busiest section on a given day,鈥 noted Haider.
Though Ontario鈥檚 plan for Toronto and the Boston鈥檚 infrastructure project would be far from identical. Haider points out that a large portion of Boston鈥檚 tunneling was done under homes. While digging underneath an active highway like the 401 presents engineering challenges, Haider believes a Toronto tunnel could be a smoother process, 鈥淵ou have no one living on top, so there鈥檚 a good chance this could be done in an efficient engineering way.鈥
The big unknown, says Haider, is the cost. 鈥淚t could be as much as $500 million a kilometre, and if you're building 60 kilometres, that could be in the range of 30-billion or higher. The question is, 鈥榙o we have the money? Does the value of it necessitate the use of these public funds?鈥欌
With a provincial election in Ontario on the horizon, University of Toronto planning professor Matti Siemiatycki doesn鈥檛 believe the plan will achieve the Ford government鈥檚 stated goal of reducing traffic.
Speaking to 麻豆影视, Siemiatycki, shared his belief that 鈥渢he premier is laser focused on suburban commuters,鈥 going on to add, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 where you win elections in the province of Ontario, in the commuter belts and (Ford) understands their pain. There is a huge congestion problem so he鈥檚 been targeting them with all these announcements and investments. But this proposal in particular won鈥檛 solve the problem. It will be costly, and just make congestion worse.鈥
Haider sees it differently. With Ontario鈥檚 population skyrocketing, he agrees that a new or expanded highway won鈥檛 reduce traffic, what it will do is allow for more commuter capacity for a growing region. He says that any plan for a Toronto tunnel must include a dedicated rail and bus corridor underground.
After Boston completed its project, the city says it experienced a 62 per cent reduction in vehicle hours traveling on the I-93 and the airport tunnels.
It may take years before we know if Ford鈥檚 proposal is indeed a 鈥減ipe dream鈥 intended to capture the imagination of voters, or a real plan to move Toronto into the future.
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