EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
Premier Doug Ford promised Wednesday to build a tunnelled expressway under the 401 and announced his government has begun studying the feasibility of the plan.
He cited the region’s increasing gridlock — saying government figures show travel times across Highway 401 are expected to double by 2051, and the number of hours Ontarians lose to traffic will more than triple.
“We need to keep building,” said Ford. “That's why today I'm announcing that our government is exploring the feasibility of a tunnel under the Highway 401. This tunnel would serve as a new expressway for both cars and transit from Brampton and Mississauga in the west to Markham and Scarborough in the east, connecting with major roads and highways along the way."
But the premier promised more than just a feasibility study.
In his remarks to reporters, he cast the tunnel as a certainty, saying, “I'll tell you one thing: we're getting this tunnel built.”
The length of the tunnel — and the costs — would be determined by the feasibility study, he said. He ruled out tolling the new highway.
Asked if he would be transparent with Ontarians about the cost of the tunnel, the premier replied, “Why wouldn’t I be?”
The Ford government, however, has not released the expected costs of other major highway projects, including the controversial Highway 413.
Asked if he would now release the projected cost of that project, he promised to give an exact figure. However, after the press conference, his spokesperson declined to do so, citing the ongoing procurement process.
Ford did not give a timeline for the completion of the feasibility study or for the highway — though his political rivals warned it would take decades to build.
Ford also predicted that those rivals — Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie in particular — would oppose the project, and said only his government will "get it done."
“I know this is an ambitious idea and that some people will say it can't be done or that we shouldn't even try — but these are the same people who oppose every project,” he said, citing the 413 project, the Bradford Bypass and subway projects.
“It's 'No, no, no,'” he continued. “Every proposal to get people out of gridlock and get our province moving, they say 'no,' friends. That includes Bonnie Crombie. She's opposed to everything we've done to make life cheaper and easier for drivers.”
Both Crombie and NDP Leader Marit Stiles quickly criticized the project.
“The real question today is which of Doug’s rich buddies would benefit from this? Who has he made promises to?” Crombie posted on X. “Because Ontario needs real solutions. Not a half-baked, back-of-the-napkin scheme to funnel tens of billions of your tax dollars to Doug Ford’s cronies.”
Stiles said it would cost billions and cause years of chaos, causing no real improvements to congestion. She added that the province should build better transit solutions instead.
“The premier cannot dig himself out of the mess that he has created in our province, not even with a fantasy tunnel,” Stiles said. “This is a serious issue, gridlock, congestion, but this is not a serious proposal. This is not a serious premier. It is a silly thought from a government that has run out of ideas.”
Another of the tunnel’s naysayers is Prof. Steven Farber, a transportation geographer at the University of Toronto, who said the cost will be “outrageous” and the environmental impact “astoundingly bad.”
“It’s probably the worst idea in transportation I’ve heard coming out of this government — and there’s been a lot of them,” Farber said.
Building additional highway lanes has been shown not to solve gridlock, he said, adding that he doubts that any transportation planner would endorse the project.
“That tunnel is going to be just as full as every other highway in the region,” he said.
Those cars, Farber added, will also end up stuck in traffic once they leave it, adding to congestion on city streets.
The environmental impact will be so high because of the amount of cement required to produce it, as well as the emissions of the vehicles that would use it, he said.
“Going underground in a tunnel is just absolutely absurd,” Farber said. “All of that money should be going to building transit infrastructure and providing alternatives to folks who need to drive.”
Ford said the tunnel would include space for transit as well as cars.
"Wouldn't it be great if we had tunnels going both sides, in the middle, we have transit? It'd be spectacular," he said.
The costs of tunnel projects vary dramatically based on the size of the tunnel, the jurisdiction it is built in, the complexity of the ground where it's built and the details of the project.
Ford spoke of a range of 30 to 70 kilometres for the tunnel, but suggested it could be built in phases.
Shoshanna Saxe, Canada Research Chair in sustainable infrastructure and an associate engineering professor at the University of Toronto, said that while Toronto’s recent transit tunnelling project costs are likely closer to New York’s than the low end, this project would be different.
“To be fair tunnelling under a live highway would be hard and expensive, maybe not as hard and expensive as tunnelling under downtown, but seriously non-trivial,” Saxe said in an email. “Tunnels can’t be dug for miles and miles at a time without disturbing the surface. You need air and ways to get the soil out. Also the surface will sink some above the tunnel. For any structure on top (interchange bridge for example, road surface) you have to be very careful about how much.”
The Ford government focused its last election campaign on building Highway 413. It would stretch from the western edge of Mississauga, where the 407 ETR meets the 401, then curve around Brampton, and reach the 400 at the northern edge of Vaughan.
While the opposition parties oppose the 413 project because of its cost and environmental impacts, Ford and his ministers have frequently touted it as necessary for fighting gridlock, using the same traffic modelling statistics that the premier employed in his tunnelled expressway announcement.
Last month, The Trillium reported, based on internal government documents, that the 413 is not expected to alleviate the region’s crushing gridlock.
The documents show government modelling predicts incredibly slow typical commute speeds — in the teens, 20s, 30s, and 40s km/hr range on 400-series highways — to and from Toronto during peak travel times in 2041, whether the 413 has four, six, or eight lanes, and whether or not the Ministry of Transportation’s other potential projects are completed.
The 407, however, is the exception, with congestion-free travel predicted due to the highway’s high tolls. Ontario’s opposition parties have urged the Ford government to remove the 407 tolls for trucks and breaking the lease with its private operators to do so.
Ford has not ruled out calling an election before the spring 2026 fixed election date and declined to do so again on Wednesday.