Pre-amalgamation tunnel plan set to go forward in Kanata

KANATA – Construction of a pre-amalgamation plan to build a tunnel under Terry Fox Drive near Highway 417 in Kanata is expected to cause years of lane reductions and traffic detours in the area, as the plan finally moves forward.

The tunnel project will extend Earl Grey Drive in the Kanata Centrum shopping centre to meet the Didsbury Road intersection on the other side of Terry Fox Drive. 

The tunnel is expected to improve traffic flow and provide a new connection to Terry Fox Station, according to the City of Ottawa. 

The 140-metre tunnel will include bike lanes and sidewalks. Nearby intersections will also be upgraded.

With work on the tunnel getting underway this month, some Kanata residents like Penny Cameron were surprised to learn about the construction project.

“A tunnel? It doesn’t make sense to me,” she told CBC.

Cameron said she frequently uses the nearby Terry Fox Drive and Didsbury Road intersection to get to the other side of Terry Fox without problems.

Melissa Clark visits the Centrum weekly and called the plans for a tunnel “ridiculous.”

“Why would they be doing this?” she said. “[The construction] is going to go on forever and disrupt people’s lives.”

Kanata North Coun. Cathy Curry was also surprised when she found out about the plans for a tunnel after taking office in 2022.

“I thought, do we really need that?” she told CBC in a recent interview.

But after talking to city planning and infrastructure staff and OC Transpo staff, she understood the rationale for it.

“I have no doubt that people will use it,” she said.

Plus, the clocks can’t be turned back. The plans for the Terry Fox tunnel pre-date amalgamation.

Marianne Wilkinson was on Kanata council when the project was first conceived, and funds collected by Centrum developers in the 1990s.

“The development is large here now,” Wilkinson said. “There are a lot of people that come here all the time. So, it’s not that it’s not needed anymore. It’s just a case of it coming around.”

The tunnel, along with upgrades to nearby intersections, is projected to cost $28.5 million.

According to the city, 95 per cent of the project is funded through development charges and the remainder from tax revenues.

“It’s taken a long time, but thankfully the development charges collected back then are still sitting there waiting for the project,” Curry said.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by December 2027.