The first cars will roll through the airport tunnel Sunday morning, capping a long political and construction saga that produced the costliest City of Calgary road project in history.
Before a public celebration Saturday — the only time Calgarians will be allowed to walk inside the 620-metre tunnel, city transportation officials gave journalists a tour Wednesday.
“Get a sense of the complexity of what you might think is a fairly simple concrete box,” transportation general manager Mac Logan said.
Here’s the megaproject, by the numbers:
4.5: Length, in Canadian football fields, of the tunnel
6: Traffic lanes, three each way
6: Lanes when LRT is eventually built in the tunnel — but shoulder lanes would be gone
$175 million: Estimated cost to link LRT from northeast line to airport. No timeline for project
0: Room for pedestrians or bicycles through tunnel, though there are emergency sidewalks
9: Minutes estimated travel savings from Peter Lougheed Hospital to tunnel
2 years, 10 months: Time from first excavation to traffic opening.
3 years, 1 month: Time since the airport closed the Barlow Trail terminal access
200: People employed on tunnel project at peak
1,380: Lights lining tunnel ceiling, which get dimmer as you approach the middle
32: Jet-engine-style exhaust fans in tunnel. Each are 100 horsepower
75m: Distance between fire extinguishers and help phones that line walls.
3: Crossover exit doors to opposite traffic side, for emergencies
2: Control houses for fans and power transformers
600,500: Weight, in kilograms, of the Antonov 225 jet that is OK to land on runway above tunnel
0: Weeks over schedule, dollars over budget
$294.8 million: Cost of the airport tunnel project
$414 million: Eventual cost after finishing interchanges required by airport and Airport Trail extensions, to link road from Deerfoot Trail to northeast Stoney Trail
$1 million: Annual operating costs of tunnel, about half for maintenance, power and security
$1 billion: Insurance policy the city must take out, costing about half the annual operating costs
6.5: Years that northeast Coun. Jim Stevenson said he’s spent pushing for the tunnel to be built
6.5: Years he’s been Ward 3 councillor
0: Affirmative votes for the tunnel Stevenson secured while Dave Bronconnier was mayor.
8-7: Margin of first successful council vote to build the tunnel in February 2011
3: Current councillors who never voted for the tunnel (Druh Farrell, Brian Pincott, Diane Colley-Urquhart)
15,000: Projected daily users in first month
50-70%: Proportion of traffic headed to airport
300 metres: Length of Airport Trail east of tunnel before road ends at 36th Street N.E.
4: lanes on 36th north to Country Hills Boulevard
2: lanes currently on 36th south of Airport Trail, without shoulders
2017: When the landowner plans to expand that southern portion.
2: Interchanges to the airport the city must help pay for before it extends Airport Trail to Metis Trail.
370: Classic cars registered for show-and-shine, which will be part of Saturday’s tunnel opening celebration
0: Parking lot space near tunnel; people are asked to take shuttles from the McKnight-Westwinds LRT parking lot
5 a.m.: When tunnel opens for regular traffic on Sunday
26: Days between tunnel opening and the runway opening above it
