Premier Ford Vows to Build Expressway Tunnel Under Ontario’s Highway 401

Ontario Premier Doug Ford delivers remarks at Lakeshore Collegiate Institute in Toronto, on Aug. 31, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

The Ontario government is planning to construct an expressway tunnel beneath Highway 401 to ease gridlock throughout the densely populated Toronto region.

Premier Doug Ford announced the concept at a Toronto press conference alongside a congested section of the 401, saying the project, which is currently the subject of a feasibility study, will be moving ahead “no matter what.”

“This is something we’re going to get done. We have the skill set. We have the skilled trades right here ready to go,” Ford said. “We’re tunnelling experts. We’ve tunnelled kilometres and kilometres of subway, and this is not going to be any different. It will be one of the world’s longest tunnels.”

The feasibility study will provide the province with both cost estimates and a timeline for the project, Ford said. The study will also be used to determine how long the tunnel will be, he said, noting that it could stretch from Mississauga in the west to Markham in the east.

“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. That will determine the length of this tunnel and that’s why we’re doing the feasibility study,” he said.

The feasibility study will look at options to increase Highway 401 capacity and will review best practices from similar projects in other jurisdictions, the province said in a press release. Soil boring tests and environmental assessments will also be conducted in conjunction with research on how the proposed tunnel will impact both traffic congestion and the economy.

Ford said he was confident the project would run more smoothly than Boston’s notorious “big dig” tunnel project that faced numerous delays and substantial budget overruns. The project, which Ford described as a “nightmare,” took 25 years to complete and cost upward of $14 billion for a 2.5-kilometre stretch of underground road.

A more recent estimate determined the final cost of the project, once interest was included, would actually come out at $22 billion, an amount that will not be paid off until 2038.

“That’s not going to happen here,” Ford said. “We’re experts at tunnelling.”

Ontario is “growing too fast,” the premier said, and that has contributed to gridlock throughout the Toronto corridor. He said the tunnel, along with the province’s plans for Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass will help address traffic congestion.

Highway 413 will extend from Highway 400 in the east to the Highway 401/407 express toll route interchange area in the west and will boast four to six lanes, connecting the regions of York, Peel, and Halton. Construction is set to begin in 2025.

Early work has begun on the Bradford Bypass, which will connect Highway 400 and Highway 404 through the York Region. Both roads are part of Ontario’s $100 billion road and transit investment, the province said.

The projects are a bid to reduce traffic on the province’s 400-series highways, a problem that costs $11 billion annually in lost productivity, the premier said.

“Drivers in the Toronto area spend 98 hours every year stuck in rush-hour traffic when they’d rather be home with their family, spending time with friends and loved ones,” Ford said.

He criticized past governments for failing to address infrastructure issues in the province, saying that traffic has been an issue for many years and continues to get worse.

While the Toronto Region Board of Trade applauded the province’s plan, calling it “visionary thinking,” opposition parties were less complimentary.

“We all deserve more time with our families and less time in traffic—and we need solutions that work today, not fantasy projects that will never see the light of day,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in a Sept. 25 X post.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner also took to social media to criticize the proposal.

“The cost will be astronomical,“ he said, adding, ”This highway scheme will INCREASE gridlock and only make your commute worse.”

The Labourers’ International Union of North America, Canada, which represents approximately 70,000 construction workers in Ontario, said the tunnel project would “boost thousands of construction jobs” for its members and other skilled trade workers.