Rebecca Maloney
Americas Press Office ,Boston
Arup led the design for the underwater tunnel that connects travellers from the mainland to the island airport.
On 30 July 2015, Arup celebrated the official opening of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Pedestrian Tunnel. Built under the Western Gap of Toronto Harbour on Lake Ontario, the $82.5m public-private partnership project connects the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to downtown Toronto.
Arriving passengers enter the mainland terminal lobby to take one of the six elevators down 32 meters to the 186-meter-long, 11-meter-wide, 9.5-meter-high elliptical pedestrian tunnel. On the island side, escalators and elevators take the passengers back up to ground level and to the island lobby.
Arup designed the tunnel, the mainland shaft situated six meters from the water’s edge, the island shaft, the mainland terminal building and the connection to the existing airport terminal on the island side. We also performed structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering, civil engineering, acoustic consulting, airport planning, project management and transport planning. The airport remained open and uninterrupted during all stages of construction.
“"Arup developed the design to meet PortsToronto’s aim for a world-class facility while working closely with project partners to make the tunnel efficient to build and operate. As lead designers, we accessed the full extent of our resources to design a project that has successfully accomplished an underwater pedestrian airport tunnel for the first time in this region."Jon Hurt, Arup principal
The tunnel won the 2014 Canadian Tunnelling Association’s 2014 Canadian Project Award and the Specialist Tunnelling Project of the Year from the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association.