The Highway 401/409 Rail Tunnel project is the Tunnelling Association of Canada (TAC)’s 2022 project of the year over $100 million, recognized for the level of engineering and understanding of underground construction displayed by project partners.

Toronto Transit Partners—a consortium consisting of EllisDon, STRABAG, WSP, Dr. G. Sauer & Partners, and Jensen Hughes— worked on the tunnelling project, expanding the Kitchener GO line as part of Metrolinx’s Regional Express Rail program. Metrolinx played an active role in partnership with the consortium, building a possible solution for this intricate tunnelling project.

The project required building two new rail tunnels under the 21 active lanes of Highway 401 and 409 traffic, alongside the existing GO corridor, without impacting either streams of traffic. Adherence to this strict guideline was crucial during project construction, as any disruption to the rail or highways corridors would negatively impact hundreds of thousands of people each day.

“Working with our consortium partners, we were able to create a solution that allowed for efficient engineering and construction of the tunnels without disruption to the thousands of motorists driving over the construction site every day. We are extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish with the project and are grateful to TAC for recognizing our teams’ work.,” says Janine Turner, vice president, strategic project pursuits and alternative delivery, transportation and infrastructure at WSP Global Inc.