The Toronto Port Authority hopes construction on the proposed tunnel to the island airport will be underway by fall of this year, a spokesperson said Saturday.
Suzanna Birchwood said she expects shovels to hit the ground before next winter and is confident the plan will pass its final hurdles -- a regulatory change at the federal level, an environmental assessment currently underway and a request to build the tunnel under city land.
The somewhat controversial project was moved forward last month when the federal government took steps to reverse a marine act amendment prohibiting "a bridge or similar fixed link" between the airport and the mainland. The amendment was instated in 2005 after former mayor David Miller campaigned against a bridge to Billy Bishop airport.
"We're very pleased (the federal government is) supportive of the proposed pedestrian tunnel," Birchwood told ctvtoronto.ca on Saturday, saying she expects the change to be complete within months.
The 123-metre tunnel's environmental assessment will also be made public in the coming weeks. Birchwood said the agency conducting it has informed her that the tunnel's construction bears the brunt of its environment impact.
The port authority is also waiting to hear from the city after a request for an easement of underground property through which it would like to build the tunnel. Birchwood says the most direct route runs through city-owned property, but notes it's not the only option if the city turns down the request.
"We could have gone less directly and stayed on federal property," she said.
If everything pans out, the tunnel could be finished sometime in 2013.
After complaints about taxpayers footing the bill for a private project, the TPA announced it will be funded by a $5 fee charged to travellers who fly out of the airport, which has been in place for the past year. Birchwood says a private investor is paying for the construction upfront, but a group fighting against the tunnel believes otherwise.
"Last we saw, they're going to put in $20 million of port authority money, which is public money, and the rest will be guaranteed by public money," Brian Iler, chair of a group fighting increased use of the island airport, told ctvtoronto.ca on Saturday.
He says his group, CommunityAIR, is "in no way convinced (the tunnel) is going to happen." With a rail link to the further afield Pearson airport slated for 2015, Iler believes demand for the downtown airport will drop significantly.
"No one has any confidence that Porter (Airlines) is going to survive," he said of the airport's existing commercial tenant, adding the trip to Pearson is worth cleaning up the shore of Lake Ontario. "We have to put up with some inconvenience to save our waterfront."
However, it doesn't look like the airlines share his dire prognostication. The port authority announced Friday that Air Canada will begin flying out of Billy Bishop on May 1. Continental Airlines is in the final stages of its own deal to use the airport.
While Iler says passenger traffic through the island airport is decreasing, Birchwood says it is projected to increase from 1.2 million people last year to 1.6 million in 2011. She says the tunnel will provide a back-up option in case something happens to the ferry, and will help disperse traffic at the foot of Bathurst Street, where it docks.
"If you get down there to catch your plane and (the ferry has) just pulled away, it's a 15-minute wait. People will know that under their own steam they can get there in six to eight minutes. Sometimes when the weather's not fabulous, the ferry ride is choppier … We need a backup system."
