We asked three experts about Doug Ford’s plan to build a Highway 401 tunnel. Here’s why it won’t stop congestion and why you might be retired before it’s done www.thestar.com/politics/pro... - ThreadSky

consbegone.bsky.social • 3 days ago

We asked three experts about Doug Ford’s plan to build a Highway 401 tunnel. Here’s why it won’t stop congestion and why you might be retired before it’s done

https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/we-asked-three-experts-about-doug-fords-plan-to-build-a-highway-401-tunnel-heres/article_35181a4c-ee12-11ef-8834-b384457fcd15.html

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jmgd2005.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yet another way that #ford would give money to felon M from the us. Was his call for a tunnel a cry for help to his southern friend?
#CANCELSTARLINK
#NOIMAGINARYTUNNEL
#NOFELONSINontario
https://www.msn.com/en-sg/news/other/elon-musk-s-boring-company-gets-the-green-light-to-build-dubai-loop/ar-AA1ze5wI

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Siemiatycki: I would continue to invest in public transit and add road tolls as a way to manage construction. I would also immediately add a bus lane to make commuting that way much quicker.

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Haider: A more pragmatic approach to enhancing regional mobility lies in prioritizing high-capacity bus rapid transit systems. Elevated BRT corridors, operating along Highway 401’s median with articulated buses in platooned formations provides dedicated right-of-way at fraction of tunnelling costs.

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Saxe: Most effective thing would be to invest in better public transit. In short term more bus rapid transit& many more bike lanes help reduce gridlock. In long term invest in more commuter rail transit. Better zoning ensures communities are oriented to transit so they don’t have to drive everywhere

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Siemiatycki: With a project of this scale there is going to be a huge amount of earth that will need to be trucked away somewhere. All of those trucks create their own traffic and congestion, as well as safety concerns as we’ve seen with Ontario Line trucks.

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Haider: A project of this scale would necessitate extensive engineering interventions, including large-scale earth removal, soil disposal, logistical co-ordination of heavy machinery & labour. Would compound disruptions to traffic & adjacent land uses throughout the multidecade construction period

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Saxe: Construction would cause disruption and traffic during tunnel construction. Given Ford is talking about building right under Highway 401, I’m guessing there would be a lot of traffic impacts above for a long time.

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Siemiatycki: Anyone commuting now-this tunnel is not going to solve your commute, this is a decades-long project. You will likely be retired by the time this is completed. These big highway projects do add capacity, but they shift the bottlenecks to elsewhere in the network.

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Haider: While the tunnel would enhance throughput capacity- moving more people and vehicles during peak periods- its impact on reducing travel times is expected to be marginal

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Saxe: No, it won’t make car commuting faster. For nearly 100 years, we’ve checked if adding road miles speeds up how fast people get to drive. Sometimes it does for a couple of years, but within five years everyone’s back to driving the same speed as before-there’s just more people stuck in traffic

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Siemiatycki: I wouldn’t even try to estimate this because whatever I say, the tunnel is going to take longer and cost more. We’re into the tens of billions of dollars and above. Toronto is a high-cost jurisdiction — our transit projects are costing $1.5 billion per kilometre.

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Haider: The tunnel spanning would likely face prohibitive financial & temporal challenges. Preliminary cost estimates for tunnelling in urban environments range from $250 million to over $1 billion per kilometre. Timelines for such megaprojects inherently uncertain. Could span decades to complete.

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Saxe: It would take a decade or longer to do ground investigation, design tunnel, build it. Even if gung-ho, it would open in 2040s. It’s a fictional project. It would cost tens of billions of dollars but you need to plan it out and, at this point, it’s just a thing Ford talks about

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Rider:

Some observers think the estimated tunnel cost could be as much $120 billion, which would gobble so much of the province’s capital budget that it would be a non-starter.

consbegone.bsky.social•3 days ago

Rider: Ford’s tunnel vision has no off-ramp.
Amid scorn from political rivals & warnings from transportation experts, Ford is adamant that, if re-elected premier Feb. 27, his government will tunnel road lanes, and possibly a transit line, under at least 50 kilometres of Highway 401.

cdnmoose5.bsky.social•3 days ago

We can consider this after our healthcare issues are resolved and high-speed rail is complete from Windsor thru Quebec City. Both of those would benefit Ontario significantly.

hbardell.bsky.social•3 days ago

📌

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