Townline Tunnel
From Freepedia
Image:Welland Townline Tunnel.jpg
Image:Welland Townline Tunnel approach.jpg
The Townline Tunnel, located in Welland, Ontario, Canada, is an underwater tunnel, carrying Highway 58A as well as Canadian National Railway and Penn Central under the Welland Canal.
The Highway
Ontario Provincial Highway 58A is a provincially maintained highway in the Niagara region. It is a short link between Highways 140 and 58 underneath the canal.
The 4.4 km (2.7 mi) long highway is important from the province's point of view as the likely spot where the planned Mid-Peninsula Highway will cross the Welland Canal. If that indeed happens, the designation of Highway 58A will be removed.
The Tunnel
The tunnel was built as a part of the Welland By-Pass project. Its construction was made easier because, like the Main Street Tunnel, it was being built at the same time as the channel above it. In contrast, the Thorold Tunnel had to be dug underneath the existing waterway.
The tunnel provides a sidewalk for pedestrians, two lanes for vehicular traffic, as well as room for three sets of tracks for rail vehicles, although currently only two sets are present. It was opened for automobiles on July 13, 1972, and the first train crossed the tunnel on January 31, 1973.
The tunnel is 335 metres (1100 feet) long. Due to low grade required for trains, the approaches to the tunnel stretch 4 km (2.5 miles) in each direction. This necessited the removal of about 13,750,000 cubic meters (18,000,000 cubic yards) of material and construction of three viaducts on each side of the canal. As well, a solid earth plug had to be put into the Welland Recreational Waterway (the old alignment of the canal), cutting it in two (photo). The construction cost $40 million.
Its design was somewhat controversial due to its limitation to only two lanes for cars. It was argued that widening it to contain more lanes would not have raised the cost of the project extensively. However, the Main Street Tunnel was built with four lanes of traffic instead. This decision may backfire as the Mid-Peninsula Highway is planned to cross the Welland Canal along the Highway 58A corridor; had more lanes been built originally, the link would be ready for use. Instead, a new, more costly tube will likely have to built under the now-existing canal. Ironically, the Main Street Tunnel is arguably underused, as the roads it connects — Highway 406, Highway 140 and Niagara Regional Road 27 — are all two lanes wide.
External links
The highway
The tunnel
Categories: Ontario provincial highways | Tunnels in Ontario | Railway tunnels | Canadian National Railway
