Raitt, Tory help open tunnel to airport

Now travellers must take a 90-second ferry to access the airport and Porter Airlines.

Officials say the tunnel will be 100 per cent powered by green energy.

Previously, passengers relied on a ferry that departed each side of the channel every 15 minutes.

This improved infrastructure also supports the airport’s growing popularity with 2.4 million annual users.

The tunnel, meanwhile, will take six minutes.

“It’s a modern, practical connection to the mainland”, he said.

Rob Ford took credit for the airport tunnel, noting that it was under his administration that work began on the project.

A long-touted fixed link between Toronto’s oft-controversial island airport and the downtown mainland opened to the public on Thursday, more than a year after it was originally scheduled for completion.

Mayor John Tory is expected to attend.

Former mayor David Miller put the kibosh on a planned bridge to Billy Bishop in 2003. Pedestrians will still have the option of using the ferry once the tunnel is operational.

“The City of Toronto was looking at how to bring much-needed sewer and water mains to Toronto Island”, he said.

The tunnel, like all aspects of the airport, has long caused political controversy in Toronto.

Speaking with CP24 on Thursday afternoon, the chair of a lobby group opposing Porter’s plans to bring jets to the airport said he has serious concerns about traffic in the area going forward. Raitt said it would be up to the City of Toronto and PortsToronto to move to have the agreement amended to permit larger aircraft to use the airport.

“Thanks to this new pedestrian tunnel, travellers can now enjoy a fast, convenient and reliable way to access the Billy Bishop Airport”, Tory said. “Another matter that our current Mayor would not have been able to vote on, or even debate on the Council floor”, said Ford.