Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport pedestrian tunnel

Coordinates: 43°37′59.9″N 79°23′48.4″W / 43.633306°N 79.396778°W / 43.633306; -79.396778

The tunnel in its first weeks of operation, August 2015

The Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport pedestrian tunnel is a pedestrian and utilities tunnel between Toronto Islands and Toronto, Canada. It passes under the Western Gap and connects Toronto island airport, on the Toronto islands, with the mainland. The project began in 2012 and after several delays, was completed in the summer of 2015. After the completion of the tunnel, ferry service remains to allow vehicle access to the airport and islands.

Description

The tunnel project connects the airport terminal to the Toronto mainland at Eireann Quay, at the foot of Bathurst Street. The project consists of a new pavilion on the mainland end of the tunnel, a 240 m (800 ft) pedestrian tunnel and a tunnel for sewage and water mains. The pedestrian tunnel has moving sidewalks. Elevators were also built at both ends. On the island side, an escalator has been constructed.[1]

A consortium known as Forum Infrastructure Partners, composed of firms Arup, PCL and Technicore, designed, built, financed and will maintain the tunnel, which is free to use.[2] Ground-breaking began in March 2012. Initially, the tunnel was estimated at $38 million, but this was revised to a cost of $82.5 million. It was expected to take 25 months to complete[3] but eventually took 40 to complete.

History

A tunnel was first proposed to connect to the island airport in 1935. A tunnel was started, but cancelled and filled in.[4] Since 1938, a car ferry has provided service to and from the airport.

In 1997, Toronto City Council approved a bridge to connect to the island airport. In 2003, Council cancelled the bridge after Toronto Mayor David Miller was elected on a platform to cancel the bridge.[5] The Port Authority bought two new car ferries instead.

In 2009, the Toronto Port Authority (TPA), operator of the airport, first proposed to build a pedestrian tunnel connecting the airport with the mainland, at a cost of $38 million. The TPA proposed that the project be paid for primarily through federal and provincial economic stimulus funds. Critics such as federal MP Olivia Chow and Toronto City Councillor Adam Vaughan criticized the proposal as benefiting only a small number of privileged users, as well as being a subsidy to Porter Airlines' business. The project was not included on a City-approved list of projects submitted to the Government of Canada.[6] In October 2009, the TPA, having not yet received approval for the tunnel project, announced that it was now too late to proceed if the project was to meet the March 2011 completion date condition for receiving federal infrastructure stimulus funds and withdrew the project.[7]

In January 2010, the TPA announced that it was seeking a private-sector partner to build a pedestrian tunnel. The cost was now estimated at $45 million. This was to be financed through a $5/flight increase in the Airport Fee paid by passengers.[8] On July 12, 2010, the TPA announced that it intended to begin construction of the tunnel as early as 2011, after conduction an environmental assessment.[9] The tunnel would not be built on or over City of Toronto land, meaning City approval would not required.[10] The TPA also announced that an opinion poll conducted on behalf of the TPA suggested that "a majority (56%) of Torontonians support a pedestrian tunnel to the island airport."[11]

The TPA conducted a private environmental assessment of the project and decided to proceed in April 2011. The TPA then short-listed three companies to respond to a request for proposals to build the tunnel. The RFP ended in October 2011.[12] In July 2011, an agreement was reached with the City of Toronto, exchanging lands with the Port Authority, enabling the Port Authority to proceed on the pedestrian tunnel. The agreement allows the Port Authority to expand their taxi and parking space for the airport. In exchange, the City of Toronto had a water main to serve the Islands included as part of the project.[13] In January 2012, the TPA announced that ground-breaking would take place in February 2012, with construction to take approximately two years.

Construction of the project took 40 months instead of the estimated 25 months. Tunnelling contractor Technicore Underground, Inc. had to deal with left over metal pilings from the 1930s tunnel project and contaminated soil. The pilings themselves were not a surprise, their details being in the TPA archives, but the pilings had fractured much of the rock in the tunnel area, meaning that the strength of the rock around the tunnel area was weaker and needed extra shoring up. There was also a dispute over payments and Technicore filed a $10 million lien against the project alleging unpaid work. To deal with the delays, the contractor applied for an exemption from the city's noise bylaw to work around the clock. Its application for round-the-clock work was denied, but it was allowed to work longer hours until 11 PM.[14] The Toronto Port Authority announced that the project would be complete during the winter of 2014/2015 and blamed the delay on the winter of 2013/2014 being colder than in previous years and ice build-up slowed progress.[15] The agency announced a further delay to the late spring of 2015.[16] The project finally opened on July 30, 2015.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Tunnel FAQs". Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Pedestrian Tunnel Project. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  2. ↑ Gillis, Wendy (January 10, 2012). "Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport pedestrian tunnel to start construction next month". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Innovative New Airport Pedestrian Tunnel a Boost for Passengers and Toronto Economy" (PDF). Toronto Port Authority. March 9, 2012.
  4. ↑ Thomas, Nikki (July 10, 2011). "Island tunnel threatens Depression-era mayor’s proudest moment". Toronto Star. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Council approves tunnel to island airport". CBC News. July 15, 2011.
  6. ↑ Lu, Vanessa (August 24, 2009). "Island airport tunnel by 2011?". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on March 9, 2010. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
  7. ↑ Toronto Port Authority (October 6, 2009). "Statement on proposed TCCA pedestrian tunnel". Canada Newswire. Retrieved October 6, 2009.
  8. ↑ Toronto Port Authority (January 29, 2010). "TPA initiates Public-Private Partnership process to construct pedestrian tunnel" (Press release).
  9. ↑ Grewal, San (July 12, 2010). "Construction on island airport tunnel to start next year". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  10. ↑ "TPA to build tunnel to Billy Bishop island airport". CTV Toronto. July 12, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  11. ↑ Ipsos Reid. "TPA: Tracking Study 2010" (pdf). p. 7. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Final Environmental Report Clears Way for RFP for Proposed Tunnel" (Press release). Toronto Port Authority. April 4, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Agreement reached on pedestrian tunnel to island airport" (Press release). City of Toronto. July 14, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Toronto island airport tunnel delay comes from contaminated soil, noise rules and the remains of a 79-year-old tunnel". National Post. April 4, 2014.
  15. ↑ Torstar News Service (April 24, 2014). "Airport tunnel problems known since 2012". Metro. p. 3.
  16. ↑ "BILLY BISHOP TORONTO CITY AIRPORT PEDESTRIAN TUNNEL UPDATE" (PDF) (Press release). Toronto Port Authority.
  17. ↑ "Billy Bishop's airport new pedestrian tunnel: what you need to know". CBC News. Toronto. July 30, 2015.

External links

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