The City's Transportation Committee will be discussing a recently completed feasibility study of a potential tunnel to get heavy trucks out of the downtown core at a meeting Wednesday.
The $750,000 study found that a tunnel would be technically feasible if regular automobile traffic was also allowed inside. While the volume of trucks moving through areas like Sandy Hill and Lowertown has been a long-running concern for residents and City Council, the study found that when local delivery trucks and trucks transporting dangerous goods are removed from the equation, there isn't enough truck traffic to justify a truck-only tunnel. By factoring in cars, as many as 25,000 vehicles could theoretically move underground and off of local streets above.
The proposed corridor would be 3.4 km long, opening at Coventry and the Vanier Parkway, near the 417, and emerging at the north end of King Edward Avenue to connect traffic to the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge.
Such a tunnel would cost the city upwards of $2 billion.
A report prepared for the Transportation Committee recommends Council delegate the authority to Mayor Jim Watson to contact the federal and provincial governments to discuss the next steps of such a plan.
In 2013, the provincial government refused to support a proposed inter-provincial bridge in the east end to alleviate truck traffic, which had been suggested by the National Capital Commission. The NCC also eventually backed away from the plan.
In the report for Wednesday's meeting, Rideau-Vanier Councillor Mathieu Fleury says the tunnel would be beneficial for the city by reducing downtown traffic, which he says would make streets safer and would also allow for additional economic development opportunities on Rideau Street.
Rideau-Rockcliffe Councillor Tobi Nussbaum argues the feasibility study failed to address two key issues: the impact a tunnel entrance near the Vanier Parkway would have on the neighbouring community, and the fact that a tunnel would only remove two thirds of truck traffic from downtown.
Nussbaum says any proposed tunnel must be accompanied with a strict truck ban on downtown streets for any trucks not delivering to a downtown address.