A Porter airline flight lands at the Toronto Island airport.Jim Ross/The Globe and Mail
The Toronto Island tunnel is clear for take off.
In a 24-13 vote, city council gave its blessing to a $60-million pedestrian tunnel linking the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport with the mainland.
The Toronto Port Authority, which brokered the deal with the city, will put up the initial capital and expect to earn it back with user fees from the bustling island airport that recently added Air Canada to the ranks of airlines that circulate over one-million people through the terminal every year.
"This is a win-win," said Port Authority CEO and President Geoff Wilson. "It's a far-ranging document and it puts us in the right direction."
Under the deal, the city and the Port Authority have agreed to swap lakeshore properties, and the tunnel will carry city water and sewer mains, saving City Hall half the $20-million price tag of laying its own mains.
The authority, a federal agency, still needs cabinet approval as well as a private-sector partner before it can launch the two-year construction, but Mr. Wilson doesn't believe either will present much of a problem.
A fixed link to the airport has been in the works for a decade. An earlier proposal for a bridge collapsed beneath local political pressure when David Miller swept to power in 2003.
The same residents who helped upend that deal have said the new tunnel won't fix the mass of passengers cars and taxis that now form a permanent knot of traffic congestion around the foot of Bathurst St.
The two ferries that service that location will continue running after the tunnel is built.
The agreement does provide new space for short-term parking and taxis, but the local councillor, Adam Vaughan, who led the unsuccessful council charge against the deal, said it's not nearly big enough to alleviate congestion in the area.
"The neighbourhood has been begging the Port Authority to solve the taxi problem, and it's eluded them," said Mr. Vaughan. "Those issues weren't resolved and so I couldn't support it today."
The Port Authority has said it hopes to open the tunnel by 2013.
Patrick White