Trains Not Tunnels - Alternatives to the 401 Tunnel - by Councillor Mike Colle, seconded by Councillor Jennifer McKelvie

This massive cost does not include the expected impacts on hundreds of thousands of Toronto residents, businesses, and industrial spaces spread across 15 of the City's wards and hundreds of residential neighbourhoods. A tunnel would be disruptive, costly, and is not guaranteed to fix the congestion woes we are currently facing. Instead, the City of Toronto and other municipalities in the region will be better served by a proven transit and congestion management solution used in over 30 countries for the last 60 years - a reliable high speed rail system. High speed rail will help Toronto and Ontario reach our environmental targets, significantly reduce the travel time between Ontario's biggest cities, further integrate residential and business hubs across the Quebec City-Toronto corridor and allow Toronto to benefit from the thousands of permanent jobs created through transit expansion. Canada is the only G7 nation that does not yet have a high-speed rail system. Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area deserves a second opinion before over $50 billion dollars are spent to tunnel under the 401.

3. City Council direct the City Manager to estimate the possible costs of tunneling under the 401, using examples such as the "Big Dig" in Boston and the State Route 99 in Seattle to inform their calculation.