Ford sent the prime minister a letter Monday setting out a series of Ontario priorities that he hopes Carney will address, including accessing critical minerals, building an electric-vehicle supply chain and enacting bail reforms.
At a meeting in March with the premiers, Carney asked them to identify “nation-building projects.” Ford’s letter sets out his list of areas he wants the federal government to prioritize “that would be transformational for Canada’s economy.”
But the “nation-building” project drawing the most attention is a driver and transit tunnel expressway under Highway 401.
Civil engineers have been sounding the alarm on flooding in Canada for over a decade now and Ford wants to build a massive underground tunnel. What could go wrong?
(It would) significantly ease congestion on the busiest highway in North America, […]
No, it would make it worse.
Nation wide high speed rail would be best IMO.
Alternate headline – Trump syncophant Drug Fraud asks PM to line the pockets of his besties
Who even wants this tunnel, I want trains, subways, streetcars and priority bus lanes.
Density of neighborhood’s should be top of mind with mid-rise 3-6 levels and less condo development. We need schools in neighborhoods within walking distance for children to walk within neighborhoods and not on outskirts, we need multi use zoning to allow stores inside our neighborhoods.
We need to curb sprawl that forces people to commute these long distances always stuck in traffic.
We need to turn existing suburbs into examples of Toronto’s Riverdale, a suburb in North America that is on par in density with that of towns in the Netherlands.
Video that shows this concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWsGBRdK2N0
Okay who actually wants this tunnel?
I’m so confused on this.
Also what happens when a cybertruck catches fire down there, won’t that kill a lot of people?
Also what happens when a cybertruck catches fire down there, won’t that kill a lot of people?
While I don’t expect Ford to learn from the past, in the hypothetical event that the tunnel were to make it as far as the detailed-engineering-drawing stage, I would hope that the engineers would have heard of the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire, the Caldecott Tunnel fire, the Channel Tunnel fires, and so on, and be able to incorporate appropriate safety setup. Actually, a cybertruck catching fire would be a minor problem compared to a commercial transport full of flammable liquid doing the same—that’s usually the big killer in road tunnel fires.
Good point, I was just thinking of how notoriously toxic battery fires are and what has a lot of them
It’s pretty easy to control the air flow inside a tunnel if you install good exhaust fans. Might get a bit wind-tunnel-y for a while, but they should be able to get any toxic fumes out without anyone having to breathe them. A road tunnel needs good ventilation even in non-emergency situations, because the crap ICE vehicles put out in the course of normal operation is going to continue to be an issue for a while yet.
Let’s see… infrastructure to connect northern Canada to the rest of the country, or an underpass?
Doubled-checked to make sure this wasn’t The Beaverton.
That tunnel will never happen.Douglas Pinto Fucking Ford. Nobody wants your god damn fucking tunnel you dope wielding simpleton. Build transit, less cars more public transport and fix the fucking health care and education. I think every province would benefit from something like this.
Jesus christ. Ford’s idea of a “nation building project” is a half-baked scheme to hide some of Toronto’s traffic underground.
If Carney treats that as a serious proposition, he might as well give the western separatists what they want, too.
Doug, just go full dystopian and build a new ground level to hide the poors and roads.
Just like modern Chinese cities do
Considering last year’s flooding, it makes me wonder.
If that doesn’t convince Mr. Carney, here’s another nation building project idea Mr. Ford could pitch to him. A brand new expressway along this path:
