Excavation underway in pedestrian tunnel to Toronto island airport

Excavation of the shaft located at the foot of Eireann Quay is underway. The pedestrian tunnel at the foot of Bathurst Street will link mainland Toronto with the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport located on Toronto island.

Construction continues on the pedestrian tunnel that will link the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to the mainland at the foot of Bathurst Street. This excavation will involve the removal of soil and rock that will be trucked offsite for disposal. Delivery of the gantry crane that will be used during the construction period is expected between Oct. 5 and 19.

New utility lines (storm drains) will be installed at Eirrean Quay as part of the construction of the new taxi staging and community parking area on the Canada Malting site. This work will occur during the day and Toronto Port Authority will be implementing additional traffic management measures throughout the installation.

Meanwhile, excavation of the shaft located on Toronto Island is expected to begin between Oct. 5 and 19. This excavation will involve the removal of soil and rock. During this excavation period, overnight work will take place on the airport’s island side. This work is weather dependent is not anticipated to require overnight ferry operation.

The 240-metre tunnel will be underground and underwater and compliment the current ferry service. In addition to facilitating pedestrian movement, the tunnel will carry City of Toronto water and sewage mains.

Official broke ground on the $82.5 million project in March and it is expected to take about 25 months, becoming operational in the spring of 2014.

The tunnel is being financed by the private sector and paid for by airport users via the existing BBTCA Airport Improvement Fee.

Forum Infrastructure Partners will design, build, finance, and maintain the tunnel. Forum Infrastructure Partners includes PCL Constructors, Johnson Controls Inc. Arup, ZAS Architects and Exp geotechnical engineers.

The airport served more than 1.5 million passengers in 2011.

DCN NEWS SERVICES