TORONTO: Tunnel Under 401 Freeway
 

This was announced by the provincial government last September, was made part of the Tories' re-election campaign in February, and yesterday the government announced the advent of feasibility studies. So these guys are serious. The 401 is the busiest freeway on Earth, and is heavily congested every day, sometimes all day, but always during rush hours. This would be the longest tunnel in the world, and presumably the most expensive transportation project ever undertaken.
Is the tunnel technically feasible? Sure. Is it realistic? No. I don't think there's the slightest chance of this happening. It would cost up to $130 billion and take decades to build. It would be a colossal waste of money (that is well-needed elsewhere) and time.
Also, the government wants this to run from Mississauga in the west to Scarborough in the east, which is 55km. I assume the plan is to have the eastern ingress/egress be on the eastern edge of Scarborough, near Port Union Rd. The problem is that the 401 is almost always badly congested where it narrows 10-15 kms east of there in Ajax-Whitby, in the area between Salem Rd. and Brock St., so a tunnel that did not include that zone would not solve anything. This must come out east of Oshawa to be of any use, imo.

https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.bol...atch/image.jpg

https://globalnews.ca/news/11120451/...study-2-years/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...cost-1.7464404

I can't believe people voted for this fool.

I'm not a tunnel expert, but it's hard to imagine any solution (cut and cover, deep bore) not being extremely disruptive as well as astonishingly expensive. It's not just the $100 billion +...it'll also be painful the whole time.

Embarrassing.

Does this plan have any specifics? Are we talking a super-express (only system-to-system interchanges), or something that creates new traffic pathways like the relatively new tunnel in Seattle?

I'm assuming this tunnel is in addition to the existing 401 correct? So it would run in parallel with it, with traffic both on top and underground in the tunnel. Not a replacement for it, and then building stuff on top of it.

It's never going to happen. The cost would be much higher than $100 billion and would be incredibly disruptive to the 401 which is already the busiest highway on the planet.

It's just Ford trying to make headlines as he is, despite currently spending $50 billion on transit in Greater Toronto, is at a loss as to how to fix the city's grinding traffic.

That same sum pays for a lot of light rail and/or subway. Google is saying that the total construction cost of the Eglinton line was $12 billion...so do the math. It's not hard to imagine that 50~ miles of completely grade separated transit would make a difference for a lot of people.

Only grade separated transit needed is the completion of the Sheppard subway line and building the 407 Transitway, both of which are east-west corridors like the 401. Maybe also extending Bloor-Danforth subway along Dundas in Mississauga to connect to the Hurontario LRT, which is another east-west. They are already building the Ontario Line (aka Downtown Relief Line) and Eglinton Crosstown, both east-west lines. The rest can be on-street LRT. Mississauga currently looking into LRT along Derry Road which is another east-west corridor, and very close to the 401.

Future East-West Rapid Transit Corridor (Derry Road)

No - at this point it's little more than a study with a pretty broad scope that will take a couple years. This was basically electioneering.

I'm not actually necessarily opposed to tunneling as a way to increase road capacity in Toronto on principle - it's pretty common in Australian cities for instance. Notably Sydney with the WestConnex project but Brisbane and Melbourne also have tunneled (and tolled) sections of freeway through central areas. If it was going to be done in Toronto I can't see the sense in simply going underneath the existing 401 as opposed to creating other connections where highway traffic currently gets dumped onto city streets. This would be in addition to transit expansions of course.

If they're trying to increase road capacity, I'd imagine it'd be a lot cheaper to build a second upper deck.

^Yeah an "ultra-express" raised portion or something similar - even in key areas would probably do the same for a lot less in cost. The big issue with the 401 of course is not just that it's the main (non-tolled) east-west route across Toronto but also a major trucking route. A solution that separates through traffic could work.

Of course Doug Ford LOVES the idea of tunnels so that's probably where the idea originally came from.

Somehow I don't think trucking is going to be a major concern in a few years.

An elevated solution would also be extremely disruptive. It involves closing what's below it during the work, though with some methods you might reopen areas during off-hours. Large staging areas would be needed. You have to clear the existing overpasses, meaning you're way up in the air and need long ramps to get there. Prefabbing can be limited to areas right next to big fab/staging areas.

I think Toronto could significantly reduce traffic on the 401 by removing the tolls on the 407. Will probably means adding lanes to the 407, but that should be significantly cheaper than tunneling under the 401.

Then possibly implement express toll lanes on both highways, if tolls are needed to help fund these freeway expansions. Better to have both free and toll lanes on both highways than squeezing all the freeloaders onto one highway and all those willing to pay tolls on another, imho.

Good luck.

The 407 is privately owned. It was sold by a previous Conservative government as part of the "Common Sense Revolution".

I dislike DoFo and his generally regressive ideas, but I would markedly favour a tunnel to a second deck above the 401, the only major considerations being cost and time to build. Raised highways are patently devolutive.
An editorial in the Star the other day seemed to imply it was a foregone conclusion that the provincial government would eventually "fold" and buy back the 407 rather than build this tunnel.

Why would a tunnel be better when an elevated deck would not only be like 1/5 the cost but could also be wider?

mhays explained it quite well above.

I think selling the 407 turned out to be the best thing the Mike Harris government ever did. Transit ridership in the Toronto area, especially Mississauga and Brampton, skyrocketed after that. Brampton ridership per capita tripled and Missisauga almost doubled. GO started having to buy double decker buses to serve the suburbs. The tolls on the 407 have been awesome, and pro-car premier Doug Ford has no control over them too. It's just been a huge boon to transit.

In addition to the disruption during construction, for aesthetic reasons. The 401 is ugly enough; a massive scar across the city. A double-decker 401 would be twice as ugly.
You make a good point, but the Harris boondoggle that increased public transit usage north of the city (great!) has been disastrous for Toronto traffic. Because of the high tolls, the 407 isn't used nearly as much as it could be. Imagine if it had remained public and untolled or low-tolled. It would be, now that it is more or less finished (though it could arguably use a diagonal connection on the east end from Kirby to, say, Port Hope), a perfect Toronto by-pass. It almost certainly wouldn't have enough lanes for the on-rush of traffic, but the corridor has plenty of room to expand. All of this is highway expansion is undesired, of course, but necessary.