City, airport authority reach deal on tunnel

A proposed tunnel under a new runway at the Calgary International Airport is closer to breaking ground as the city committed to aggressively pursuing government funding for the $287-million project.

The City of Calgary and the Calgary Airport Authority will cover $90 million of the tunnel's total cost, they announced on Tuesday. Mayor Dave Bronconnier will lead a campaign to secure the rest of the funding from the provincial and federal governments by March 2010.

"So this is a big step for us to actually have the two parties agree on a program going forward," said Ald. Jim Stevenson, who pointed out it's taken two years and hundreds of meetings to get to this point.

The proposed tunnel will extend Airport Trail (96th Avenue) eastward to 36th Street N.E., connecting to Mtis Trail.

The airport is constructing a new 4,270-metre long runway, which will include the closure of Barlow Trail between 48th Avenue and Airport Road N.E.

Many business owners and commuters supported the tunnel idea at a public meeting in November, arguing the area needed easily accessible roads in light of the Barlow Trail closure in April 2011.

New runway part of airport expansion

Last year, city council approved $50 million for a tunnel, on the condition that it would only be built if the province and the federal government matched the funds.

The city will design and build the tunnel, which will cost $124 million alone,and take over ongoing maintenance once the project is finished, said officials on Tuesday.

"We are on track with the parallel runway project and timing is now critical if the Airport Trail extension is to be constructed at the same time as the runway," said Garth Atkinson, president and CEO of the Calgary Airport Authority.

The new runway, which is slated to be in operation by 2014, is part of a $1.8 billion expansion of airport facilities over the next six years.

"This is an important piece of infrastructure for all of Canada," said Stevenson."It's not just here in Calgary, because this city and the airport is dealing in a big way with the Pacific Rim, with Asia, with goods and services coming this way."