The Toronto Port Authority has reached an agreement with the City of Toronto that would allow the municipality to use a yet-to-be-built pedestrian tunnel from the lakeshore to Billy Bishop Airport on the Toronto island for water and sewage mains. Construction of the pedestrian tunnel has yet to be approved and currently the airport is only accessible by ferry boat.
The Toronto Port Authority announced this week it has reached an agreement with the city that would allow the municipality to use a yet-to-be-built pedestrian tunnel from the lakeshore to Billy Bishop Airport on the Toronto island for water and sewage mains.
Billy Bishop Airport, formerly known as Toronto Island Airport and Toronto City Centre Airport, is accessible only by ferry boat from the south end of Bathurst Street, which is a dead end at the shore of Lake Ontario. Although the portion of the island with the airport terminal is little more than 100 metres off the shore, the Toronto Port Authority has been stymied in its efforts to build a fixed link to the airport. City politicians such as former mayor David Miller opposed a bridge to the airport because they are concerned air traffic would increase if passengers could get to and from the airport without having to take a ferry.
The Toronto Port Authority is a federal agency that replaced the Toronto Harbour Commission and operates various facilities, including Billy Bishop Airport, along and off the shore of Lake Ontario.
Construction of the pedestrian tunnel has yet to be approved.
In April, the Toronto Port Authority invited bids from three different consortia to build the tunnel to Billy Bishop Airport, and it had concluded, based on an ongoing environmental assessment, that a tunnel would be unlikely to cause significant, adverse environmental effects.
In the agreement announced Thursday, the Toronto Port Authority stated the city would save about $10 million by reducing duplication of construction. The Toronto Port Authority is waiving standard commercial fees for the city if it uses the tunnels for sewer and water pipes. The Canada Malting site, leased for three years to Toronto Port Authority, would be a staging area for construction vehicles.
A draft federal regulation to expressly allow the construction of a pedestrian tunnel was gazetted in Ottawa on July 2, 2011.
The request for proposals was issued in April to: City Airport Tunnel Partners, which includes Fengate Capital, Aecon and Honeywell Canada; Elite Tunnel Group, which includes Macquarie Capital Group Ltd., McNally Group of companies, Morrison Hershfield, Golder Associates Ltd., Scott Associates Architects and the State Group Inc.; and Forum Infrastructure Partners, which includes Forum Equity Partners Inc., PCL Constructors Inc., engineering consulting firm Arup, Exp Global Inc. (formerly Trow Global Holdings Inc.), Technicore Underground and ZAS Architects.
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