In yet another wacky scheme that will likely wreak havoc on the Toronto public, Premier Doug Ford’s government launched a technical evaluation for the construction of a new tunnel/expressway for drivers and transit under Highway 401. In a press conference in Etobicoke on Wednesday, Ford said that the tunnel would cut gridlock, support economic growth and help get people moving faster — though critics say differently.

“Ontario’s gridlock problem is leaving the average Toronto-area commuter stuck in traffic for 98 hours every year, taking up precious time that would be better spent with family, friends and loved ones, and is costing our economy $11 billion every year in the GTHA alone,” Ford said in a statement. “Today’s announcement is the latest step in our nearly $100 billion plan to tackle this gridlock by building and expanding highways and transit, including Highway 401, the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413, so we can get people and goods moving across Ontario once more.”

Engineering/feasibility services will be secured through the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure Ontario. They’ll examine various options to increase Highway 401 capacity, look at the proposed tunnel’s economic contributions, both in the short- and long-term, its impact on reducing gridlock, look at practices from similar projects in other jurisdictions and conduct environmental assessment processes for the project.

The results haven’t come in yet, but Ford seems set on the tunnel.

“The reason we’re having a feasibility study is it’s going to determine the length. If they’re telling me, 30 kilometres is x, 40 kilometres is y, and 70 kilometres or 60 kilometres is another cost, let’s take a look at it,” Ford said at yesterday’s conference, adding, “But we’re going to get the job done, mark my words.”

According to the province, this expressway is expected to provide a new, faster route for some of the most gridlocked roadways in the province north of Toronto, extending from beyond Brampton and Mississauga in the west to beyond Markham and Scarborough in the east (so about 55 kilometres).

“I know this is an ambitious idea and that some people will say it can’t be done or that we shouldn’t even try,” Ford noted at yesterday’s press conference, adding that these are the “same people who oppose every project.”

One of the critics is Bonnie Crombie; the leader of the Ontario Liberal party took to X to decry the plan as “a half-baked, back-of-the-napkin scheme to funnel tens of billions of your tax dollars to Doug Ford’s cronies.”

Ontario NDP party leader Marit Stiles has also spoken out against the plan. At Queen’s Park on Wednesday, Stiles said that a tunnel running beneath Highway 401 is a “silly” thought from a “government that has run out of ideas,” noting that it would lead to years of traffic disruption and billions of taxpayers’ dollars.

“This is not a serious proposal, this is not a serious premier,” she said, also referencing Boston’s Central Artery Tunnel project (known as the Big Dig) — this was the U.S.’s most expensive highway project, which took more than two decades to plan and build.

People want to get home to their kids THIS decade. https://t.co/TPrqFBIMqj

— Marit Stiles (@MaritStiles) September 26, 2024

At yesterday’s news conference, Ford was asked about Boston’s tunnel project, and he responded that what happened there won’t happen in Ontario in this case.

“We’re experts at tunnelling,” Ford said.

The Big Dig cost $8 billion for around a 2.5 km tunnel. In Toronto, a report from the Toronto Region Board of Trade found the average cost of new transit in the city is currently more than $700 million per kilometre. If that were to remain consistent for this new tunnel, costs could surpass $38 billion. 

Ministry of Transportation modelling has confirmed that by 2051, travel times on the main stretch of Highway 401 will double with travel time taking 90 minutes longer on the 401 through the GTHA. Modelling also showed that all of the province’s 400-series highways in the GTHA will be at or exceed capacity within the next decade.

To help ease gridlock, Ford’s government pledged funding to build Highway 413 — a proposed 52-kilometre highway and transitway that will extend from Highway 400 in the east to the Highway 401/407 ETR interchange area in the west, connecting York, Peel, and Halton.  However, as we previously reported, Ontarians could still face bumper-to-bumper gridlock, even if the provincial government moves ahead with building Highway 413 and other new highways.