Calgary airport tunnel by the numbers

Calgary's long-awaited airport tunnel will open to traffic this Sunday morning but residents will get a chance to walk through the structure during an official opening event on Saturday.

The event will run 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. MT, with shuttle bus access provided from McKnight-Westwinds C-Train station.No vehicles will be allowed on site.

It's also a chance to see many of the things you otherwise won't notice while driving through the tunnel. I'll get to some of those in a moment but for now, here's the airport tunnelby the numbers.

The tunnel

• Total build cost: $294.8 million
• Operation fromJune to December 2014: $475,000
• Full-year operation estimate: $1 million
• Insurance policy: $1 billion (annual premium $500,000 part of estimated $1 million operating cost)
• Tunnel length: 620 metres

The politics

• City council vote when tunnel was approved in February 2011: 8-7
• Of the eightin favour, the following are still on council:(Mayor NaheedNenshi, Jim Stevenson, Ray Jones, RichardPootmans, Gian-CarloCarra, AndreChabot,ShaneKeating and PeterDemong)
• Of the sevenopposed, threestill remain on council:(DianeColley-Urquhart, Druh Farrell and BrianPincott)

The lanes

• Number of lanes in tunnel: 6 (3 in each cell (or side) of the tunnel)
• Width of each sidein metres:17
• Vehicle height clearancein metres: 5.3

The route

• Tunnel goes under:1runway and 3 taxiways
• Future LRT?C-Train track could be put down on the inside lane in each side of tunnel
• Tunnel is made of 50 sectionstotalling 58,000 cubic metresof concrete and 12,000 tonnes of steel
• Concrete pour:February to October 2012
• Thickness: walls:1 metre, floor slab:1.5 metres

The extras

• Electrical conduitin kilometres: 45
• Number of 100 horsepower fans to clear smoke andexhaust from tunnel: 32
• Each fan unit weightin kilograms: 570
• Each fan unit lengthin metres: 5.6
• Fire extinguishers, dry standpipe (water) and fire hose: every 75 metres in each side of tunnel
• Lights:1,380 halophane metal halide fixtures
• Electricity supply:From 2 different sub-stations in Calgary so guaranteed power at all times

The scale

• Tunnel can support heaviest planes in world: Airbus A380 and Antonov 225 (600,000 kilograms)
• Wireless sensors embedded in concrete to measure temperature and movement: 40
• Time to drive through tunnel at 70 km/hrin seconds:32