A year after Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced his dream that an expressway, tunnelled under Highway 401, would relieve Toronto’s gridlock woes, the government says it hasn’t finalized which firm will study whether the project is possible.
On Sept. 25, 2024, Ford stood on the side of Highway 401 and outlined his plan to build a 50-kilometre tunnel beneath one of North America’s most congested highways, stretching from Mississauga to Markham.
Ford was adamant at the time the project would go ahead in some form, but said a feasibility study would look into how long the route would ultimately be, how to incorporate transit and how much it could cost.
In the spring, the government issued a request for bidders to take on that study, asking them to report over roughly two years on how the project would work and what alternatives, like elevated highways, could achieve the same goal.
Months after the request for proposals, and a year after the plan was first announced, however, no company has been confirmed to take on the study.
“We have had significant interest in delivering this critical transportation link and the ministry is actively reviewing submissions prior to the award of the contract,” a spokesperson for the minstry of transportation told Global News. “We continue to work with industry experts as we advance work on the Highway 401 tunnel.”
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Sandro Perruzza, the executive director of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, said a slow and careful approach to the feasibility study and awarding the contract was to be encouraged.
“The more information you have at the beginning of the project — you can define the design at the beginning of the project — it makes construction a lot easier after that because you’ve taken into consideration all the contingencies that may happen,” he told Global News.
“We’ve shown that for every additional dollar you spend on pre-engineering work, you save $100 in construction costs.”
Opposition politicians are less convinced. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner suggested the government knew the tunnel was unfeasible, so it was deliberately dragging its heels.
“This project is such a ridiculous project that nobody in government wants to move fast on it because they know what a fiscal nightmare it’s going to be,” he said.
“The premier knows what a financially reckless and irresponsible project this is, and he doesn’t want to be honest with the people of Ontario about what a bad financial decision this would be.”
As Global News previously reported, internal government work to look at the idea was shelved in 2021 and found it could be at risk of collapse.
The fact that the feasibility study hasn’t been awarded yet could dash Ford’s hopes the federal government will select the tunnel as a nation-building project, a status which would help it bypass various assessments.
The premier previously said he hoped Ottawa would select it, although he did not appear to have been told it would be chosen.
Perruzza said he thought far too little work had been done to plan the tunnel for the federal government to grant it fast-track status.
“I would be very surprised if it does get picked up at this stage because a lot of the other projects that have been announced and are still to be considered have been in the works for years,” he said.
The government defended the plan, saying it was necessary to address growing gridlock.
“Ontario’s population is rapidly growing, and all 400 series highways are already at capacity,” the spokesperson said.
“We need to look at all options to keep people moving, which includes building the Highway 401 tunnel. This transformative project will fight gridlock, create thousands of good paying jobs and protect Ontario’s economy.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
