Taxpayers on the hook for $9M to study Doug Ford's Highway 401 tunnel idea
CBC
Ontario taxpayers are set to spend $9.1 million to learn if or how it is feasible to build a tunnel under Highway 401.
The province issued a request for proposals for the study in the spring and a spokesperson for Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Thursday that WSP Canada Inc. was recently awarded the contract.
"Our government is making significant progress on the transformational project to build a tunnel under Highway 401 that will get people and goods moving across the province faster," Dakota Brasier wrote.
Before the feasibility study was even started, Ontario Premier Doug Ford spoke often and in detail about his vision for a tunnel.
Ford laid out his plan for the tunnel to be 19.5 metres wide and three levels, with one level each for eastbound and westbound traffic and another for transit.
"We're building that tunnel as sure as I'm talking to you, and we're going to continue (to) reach out to experts around the world," he said in August.
"If they can tunnel under the English Channel, if they can tunnel through mountains and every other place, we sure the heck can tunnel along the 401. We'll do it safely, and we'll do it properly."
The premier has also urged Prime Minister Mark Carney to designate it as a nation building project, saying it is needed in order to reduce gridlock and boost economic productivity.
Critics have called the idea a vanity project or a fantasy.
"I don't know how they sleep at night," NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Thursday. "I'll just say it ... I think very few people really believe this is a real thing."
Ford has previously said the feasibility study would look at how — not if — the tunnel could be built, but the request for proposals does contemplate the possibility of a tunnel not being possible.
The RFP sought a study to determine the feasibility of a tunnel and several other options including an elevated highway, adding more lanes and having truck-only lanes.
"If no capacity expansion option is determined to be feasible, then congestion mitigation options are to be identified as alternative to expansion," the request told prospective proponents
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