City council thinks Doug’s dig is the pits.
A motion put forward by Councillor Mike Colle, dubbed “Trains Not Tunnels,” called for the province to “consider the feasibility of a high-speed rail system instead of the disruptive and costly tunnelling” under Hwy. 401.
It also asked Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria to analyze the cost of linking Hamilton to Montreal via high-speed rail and for the city manager to look at Boston’s so-called “Big Dig” and a tunnelling project in Seattle to estimate just what the 401 endeavour might involve in terms of time and price.
It passed 18-1 without discussion on Thursday evening with only Councillor Stephen Holyday opposed. An amendment requesting the province consider buying back Hwy. 407 as an alternative passed 18-2 with only Holyday and fellow Etobicoke Councillor Vincent Crisanti voting no.
Premier Doug Ford announced the idea as a solution to GTA gridlock in late September.
“It’s something that you have to be a visionary,” Ford said. “You have to look at the cost of $11 billion a year, it’s costing our economy, not to mention how do you put time on people’s lives that are stuck in traffic?”
Last week, Ford expressed openness to the province buying the 407.
“All options are on the table — maybe both options,” he said. “We’ll do the feasibility study. We’ll look at the 407 and see exactly which way are we going.”
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A spokesperson with 407 ETR said at the time that the province hadn’t discussed the matter with them.
A letter from the Federation of North Toronto Residents’ Associations to city council endorsed Colle’s motion, arguing a tunnel “would be incredibly costly, disruptive and unlikely to fix the congestion woes currently experienced.” The letter also argued a new rail line “may reduce the need for intercity air service of the type provided by Billy Bishop Airport.”
Ford has said he has asked construction unions and companies whether it would be better to build a new road over the existing 401 instead of digging a tunnel and he said they both said no.
“You’d have to shut down the 401 totally if you did build on top of it,” he said. “The maintenance would be a nightmare. Eventually, it would end up looking like the Gardiner (Expressway), that concrete would be falling down.”
— With files from The Canadian Press