Ford undertakes to build HWY. 401 tunnel if re -elected

PC leader Doug Ford promises to push forward with plans to build a tunnel under the Highway 401 to tackle Gridlock in the Greater Toronto area with a price tag that has not yet been determined.

As the current prime minister, Ford has previously spoken to build an underground highway under 401 to expand its capacity for drivers and transit.

At a news conference on Friday, Ford said a re -elected progressive conservative would make the plan a reality.

“The easiest way to know if anyone commutes at 401 ask them what they think of building a tunnel,” Ford said.

“These hardworking families, they just want to get to work, come to football exercise after work, come home without a headache of bumper-to-flock traffic from one end of 401 to the other.”

Highway 401 Tunnel Expressway would extend from Brampton and Mississauga in the west to Markham and Scarborough in the East, the PC party said in a press release, and that would include both vehicle and transit lanes.

When asked how much the project would cost, Ford did not give an accurate number, but said the party is conducting an opportunity survey.

“We have the skill set, we have the expertise, we get that tunnel built,” he said.

“We are just waiting for the experts to come back and say, ‘This is what it costs per kilometer.'”

Ford argued that the tunnel will be worth it because Gridlock costs the province’s economy billions of dollars each year.

An expert says the promise could take years and tens of thousands of billions of dollars to deliver.

“The reality is that this is both far away and not likely realistic in terms of its costs,” said Matti Siemiytycki, director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto.

Nor will it solve the overload problem if there is the same amount of traffic, Siemiytycki said.

“It can move bottlenecks around and it will make things worse over time.”

Parties respond

Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles called the proposal a “fantasy” in a post on X, formerly Twitter, while promoting her promise to remove the 407 toll.

In an e -mail, Stiles tuned the tunnel called wasted and promised to “start investing in what actually matters” if it was chosen premier.

“Doug Ford had seven years hiring doctors, fixing schools, building home. Instead, all he can do is waste taxpayers dollars on things no one asked for, like a fake tunnel under 401,” Stiles said.

In another social media post, the Green Party in Ontario Toginfrastructure would be more effective in facilitating traffic congestion in GTA.

Green party leader Mike Schreiner called the proposal “just insulting” to Ontarians, who are struggling with the high cost of living and lack of access to health care.

“Ontarians will not have a tunnel under 401. They do not want Doug Ford to continue to throw money at GTA when the rest of the province has no affordable home or healthcare,” Schreiner said in a news message.

Due to commenting on Ford’s promise, Ontario -Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie said she would not build a tunnel under 401 “but I will get you a family doctor.”

Crombie also suggested that the proposed tunnel were wasted and “will actually never be built” in a post on X.

Eglinton Crosstown opens this year: Ford

Ford also promised that a re-elected PC government would see the baked Eglinton Crosstown open before the end of the year, though he said he couldn’t give a precise date.

“As soon as everyone is trained, I am really, really convinced that we will open this year,” he said.

However, TransitAglædkatgruppe TTCRIDERS expressed skepticism about the promise.

“Promised opening dates have come and gone before,” said TTCriders spokesman Nigel Morton in a news message pointing out that Finch West Lrt – another Metrolinx project – also doesn’t have a Fixed opening date.

Construction began on the 25-stop line in 2011. It was originally set to open in 2020, but a number of technical problems and associated costs have plagued the project and repeatedly delayed its end.