Ontario Awards $9.1 Million Study Contract for Highway 401 Tunnel Plan

Overview

• The Ministry of Transportation confirmed WSP Canada Inc. won the $9.1 million, taxpayer-funded contract to conduct the feasibility study.
• The scope requires assessing a tunnel alongside alternatives such as an elevated roadway, added lanes, and truck-only lanes, with congestion-mitigation measures to be identified if expansion proves unworkable.
• Officials expect findings to take up to two years after the contract award, extending a process that began with preliminary work years earlier.
• Internal analysis paused in 2021 after flagging a potential for roadway collapse and the premier has said that earlier work will not inform the new study.
• Premier Doug Ford continues to promote a 19.5-metre-wide, three-level design and seeks federal recognition as a nation-building project, while critics including NDP Leader Marit Stiles question the plan's realism.