City committee moves on downtown tunnel study

City councillors on Ottawa'stransportationcommittee wantMayor Jim Watson to take the next step towards a new downtown tunnel for car and truck traffic.

If city council agrees, Watson will ask the federal and provincial governments to pony up about $2million dollars each to help pay for an environmental assessment of the project, a process that would take up to three years and cost between $6 million and $7 million.

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The preferred scenario would seetwo separately bored tunnels, each carrying two lanes of traffic. A consulting firm estimates up to 25,000 vehicles would use the tunnel daily, including 1,700 largetrucks.

The corridor would stretchfrom a southern portalat theVanier Parkway exit of Highway 417, under Strathcona Park in Sandy Hill andunderLowertown, emerging on King Edward Avenue behind the Lester B. Pearsonbuildingso traffic can continue to Quebec over the Macdonald-Cartier bridge.

Tunnel could ease downtown traffic

Rideau-Vanier ward Coun.Mathieu Fleury, has been pushing for the tunnel as a solution to the long-standing problem oftransport trucks cloggingKing Edward Avenue as they weave through the city's core.

The push comes after efforts to decide on a location for a new interprovincialbridge fizzled, Fleury said.

"We're moving forward with an environmental assessment [for a tunnel]because the other options don't have the provincial and federal support," he said.

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A tunnel could cost $2 billion, butFleury's hope is that the upper levels of government would pay for it.

He argues it's not the city's responsibility toconnect a 400-series Ontario highway to an interprovincial bridge.