Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainYooh
Every driven in Switzerland? They have over 2,000km of top quality 4-lane wide tunnels through the Alps at depths exceeding 2,000m with the population of only 8.6M and the lowest income taxes in the world. Tunnels are the most efficient ways of driving through the mountain ranges in terms of safety of drivers and wildlife, maintenance costs and environmental impact. Harper (being from the West himself) wanted to build the tunnel between Lake Louise and Golden tight spots, but Trudeau got it shelved. There are not that many tight spots along Hwy-1, actually; maybe, less than 100km in total. Canada just needs to bite the bullet and make a decision to budget 20-30B to have it done once and for all. Widening those road bases along mountain terraces is not only dangerous and expensive; it is also taking a huge amount of time and disruption for the summer traffic. Tunneling will be less disruptive and, upon completion, will leave alternative scenic routes for emergencies and for those who wants to enjoy the scenery while driving.
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Switzerland is 41000 sq km.
If you draw a funny triangle-like shape from CGY-EDM-VAN (which also captures a lot of interior BC population) it's about 150 000 sq km, for probably ~7 million people.
But really, Switzerland is more like BNP and Glacier NP between Italy (60M) and France/Germany + the rest of northern Europe. At least a 10x scale difference compared to Canada.
That said, a tunnel may still have been the right option here. I've struggled to find much info on it beyond they identified two possible routes that were each about 2.9km long, though I've also seen references to shorter tunnels and sheds...it seems there were some reports/renderings, but all dead links now. I've read some allusions that operational costs would also have been higher for a tunnel, too.
I kinda doubt Harper sketched out a tunnel on a cocktail napkin and that Trudeau took great glee in personally tearing it up. They just happened to be the guys in power when the project was initiated, and then final decisions made...