Ontario Border Improvements
Related Links
- Action Plan for the Intelligent Border Crossing Project
- Nexus
- FAST
- Border Wait Times
- Detroit-Windsor Tunnel (Goyeau Street, Windsor)
- Ambassador Bridge (Huron Church Road, Windsor)
- Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) (Canada- U.S.- Ontario- Michigan Border Transportation Partnership)
- Infrastructure Ontario
Tunnel Plaza Master Plan and Environmental Assessment Study
Windsor-Detroit Tunnel
Canadian Plaza Master Plan and Environmental Assessment Study
Public Information Centre 3
June 15, 2010
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Why are we doing this study?
- Background
- Objectives of the Master Plan
- Study Area
- Environmental Assessment Process
- Summary of Public Information Center 2
- Update of Existing Traffic and Operating Conditions
- Update of Future Traffic Needs
- Alternative 3A
- Alternative 3A Modified
- Alternative 2A Modified
- Assessment and Evaluation Criteria
- Air Quality Assessments
- Next Steps
- Contacts
Introduction
Welcome to the web site for the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Canadian Plaza Master Plan and Improvements environmental assessment study. McCormick Rankin Corporation is working with the Windsor Tunnel Commission, Detroit and Canada Tunnel Corporation, the City of Windsor, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Transport Canada to complete the environmental assessment and master plan. This web site has been established to provide project information and collect your comments on the study.
We encourage you to read through the site and send us your feedback. We will be updating this site with additional information as the study progresses. Please check this site for updates and details on how you can get involved. If you wish to be added to our mailing list or submit comments or questions, please go to the contacts section of the web site.
Why are we doing this study?
- The Windsor-Detroit Tunnel is one of the busiest Canada-U.S. border crossings in terms of car traffic.
- Significant queuing of U.S. bound traffic occurred at the Tunnel after September 11, 2001. Morning Tunnel traffic queues have often extended back onto approaching roadways on Goyeau Street and Wyandotte Street. These queues:
- contributed to a high proportion of collisions on Goyeau Street during periods of queuing;
- caused disruptions to local residents and delays at the border;
- had a negative economic impact on the City’s downtown businesses, including Caesars Windsor; and
- required Windsor Police to implement temporary traffic management measures on Goyeau Street at Park Street and at Wyandotte Street.
- Although the morning traffic queuing problems have lessened, it is anticipated that the amount of traffic using the Tunnel will grow in the future.
- More recently, the midday and weekend queues often extend back onto approaching roadways and backups are occurring on Goyeau Street and Wyandotte Street.
- Therefore, a solution is needed to improve efficiency and address safety and security issues. This will require operational improvements to the Canadian Plaza including changes to the plaza layout.
Background
- In March 2004, the Governments of Canada, Ontario and Windsor announced funding for the Let's Get Windsor-Essex Moving strategy, a $300 million joint investment by the federal and provincial governments for several short- and medium-term projects to improve traffic flow at the Windsor-Detroit Gateway, Canada's busiest border crossing. Funding for this strategy comes from the Canada-Ontario Border Infrastructure Fund (BIF).
- One of the initial projects under the strategy is improvements to the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Plaza.
Objectives of the Master Plan
The Objectives of the Master Plan are to:
- Analyze the range of issues, concerns and objectives for the Canadian Plaza that the Plaza administrators, the Plaza users, other stakeholders, the general public and the study team identify;
- Consider the short- and long-term demands on the Plaza and surrounding area in terms of traffic flows, and overall cross-border traffic in the Windsor gateway;
- Through the development and evaluation of alternatives, identify the specific long-term infrastructure needs of the Plaza including the immediate and long-term solutions to improving traffic flow to the Tunnel; and
- Develop a staged Implementation Plan for the identified improvements to the physical plaza layout.
Study Area
Aerial image of Tunnel Plaza master plan and improvements study area
Environmental Assessment Process
- The project is subject to both the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act and is being planned in accordance with the requirements of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process.
- The study is being undertaken in accordance with sound transportation planning and environmental planning principles, including a systematic evaluation of alternatives and stakeholder consultation to meet the requirements of both Acts.
- At the end of the study, an environmental study report will be prepared for public review and comment.
Summary of Public Information Center 2
- PIC 2 was held on July 27, 2006.
- PIC 2 presented the analysis and evaluation of the short-list alternatives and carried forward two technically preferred alternatives (Alternatives 2A and 3A) for additional public input and additional analyses.
- About 80 people attended the PIC.
- A total of 23 written comments were received at or following the PIC.
- Overall, based on the conversations at the PIC and the written comments received after the PIC, there was an understanding of the problems to be addressed and recognition of the need to improve the Canadian Plaza of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel.
- A number of the attendees did not prefer Alternative 2A due to its close proximity to St. Alphonsus Church.
Unique technical features:
- Good land use opportunity on north side of Wyandotte Street
- Limited additional public parking
- Limited plaza operational flexibility due to constrained plaza layout
- Fewer property requirements
- Lower total cost
Common technical features:
- Adequate plaza facilities and highest U.S.-bound queuing capacity for future needs
- Additional U.S.-bound NEXUS capacity
- Improved Canada-bound NEXUS operations
- Improved Canada-bound bus operations
- Additional Canada-bound auto processing capacity
- Includes on-site Canada-bound truck secondary inspection area
- Maintains existing main south approach roadway along Goyeau Street
Unique technical features:
- Limited land use opportunity on north side of Wyandotte Street
- Ample additional public parking
- Good plaza operational flexibility due to plaza layout
- More property requirements
- Higher total cost
Common technical features:
- Adequate plaza facilities and highest U.S.-bound queuing capacity for future needs
- Additional U.S.-bound NEXUS capacity
- Improved Canada-bound NEXUS operations
- Improved Canada-bound bus operations
- Additional Canada-bound auto processing capacity
- Includes on-site Canada-bound truck secondary inspection area
- Maintains existing main south approach roadway along Goyeau Street
PIC 2 Preliminary Preferred Alternative
The preference between 2A and 3A was close at the time of PIC 2. Input from stakeholders and feedback received at PIC 2 in addition to the projected future capacity needs of the plaza, Alternative 3A was slightly preferred following PIC 2:
- Alternative 3A would provide a larger plaza area, a larger queuing storage area, and better operational flexibility to address future border operational changes. However, 3A would have higher property impacts, a higher cost and would close Windsor Avenue at Wyandotte Street.
- The smaller plaza layout of Alternative 2A would limit the plaza’s operational flexibility. 2A would also result in less public parking in the plaza vicinity. 2A would bring U.S.-bound queuing lanes closer to Windsor West Apartments and St. Alphonsus Church. 2A would have less property impacts, a lower cost and less impact to the change in land use on Wyandotte Street.
- The benefits of 3A in terms of higher operational flexibility, larger queuing storage, and shifting queuing lanes further away from the church and apartment building slightly outweighed the benefits of 2A in terms of maintaining Windsor Avenue access at Wyandotte Street, less property impacts, lower cost and less land use impacts on Wyandotte Street.
- As time lapsed since PIC 2, the study team re-assessed the existing traffic conditions at the Canadian Plaza; updated the traffic demand forecasts; and in addition to Alternative 3A (the preliminary preferred alternative following PIC 2), developed two new alternatives with smaller footprints (2A Modified and 3A Modified) that can meet future needs.
Update of Existing Traffic and Operating Conditions
- While morning traffic queuing problems have lessened, commuter traffic has remained relatively constant.
- Queuing has increasingly been occurring during the midday period on both weekdays and weekends.
- Queuing is now permitted in the Tunnel during off-peak periods.
- NEXUS usage has remained relatively constant.
- Truck usage from Windsor to Detroit has been decreasing (since all Tunnel trucks must be enrolled in the Border Release Advanced Screening and Selectivity (BRASS) program and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are not accepting any new enrolments).
- The number of U.S. PILs used/open during peak periods have increased (non-NEXUS).
- U.S.-bound inspection processing times have increased significantly.
- Passports are required at border crossings since June 2009.
Update of Future Traffic Needs
Cross border traffic is expected to grow 1% per year over the next 20 years.
- Expected traffic growth is consistent with the projected growth rate in the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) EA Study.
- In February 2010, the Michigan Department of Transportation traffic study reaffirmed the key findings of the DRIC study.
- Specifically that traffic volumes will increase over the long-term in the Windsor-Detroit gateway, confirming the need for additional crossing capacity to reduce congestion and move traffic quickly to and from the border.
- It is expected that Tunnel truck traffic will remain the same or slightly decrease over the next 20 years.
The graph below demonstrates the dynamic nature of queue formation. It represents the queue formation for non-NEXUS vehicles for Year 2030 traffic demand. The green line shows the number of non-NEXUS vehicles arriving over a period of 1 hour and the blue line shows the queue formation for the vehicles behind the tolls in the Plaza. The orange line indicates the number of vehicles (6.8) that can be processed by the U.S. PIL booths in 1 minute (assuming 5 booths are open during peak hours). This graph shows that as a result of the U.S.-bound inspection processing time, queuing at the Canadian Plaza is anticipated in Year 2030.
Non-NEXUS Vehicle Queue Formation (Year 2030)
Common technical features:
- Adequate plaza facilities and highest U.S.-bound queuing capacity for future needs
- Additional U.S.-bound NEXUS capacity
- Improved Canada-bound NEXUS operations
- Improved Canada-bound bus operations
- Additional Canada-bound auto processing capacity
- Includes on-site Canada-bound truck secondary inspection area
- Maintains existing main south approach roadway along Goyeau Street
Unique technical features:
- Good plaza operational flexibility due to plaza layout
- Ample additional public parking
- Limited land use opportunity on north side of Wyandotte Street
- Removal of direct access between Windsor Avenue and Wyandotte Street
- More property requirements
- Higher total cost
- Tunnel queuing fronting Wyandotte Street to McDougall Street but partially concealed from public roads by landscaping
- Relocation of Duty Free Delivery Bay
- Orientation of queuing area away from tunnel
Common technical features:
- Adequate plaza facilities and high U.S.-bound queuing capacity for future needs
- Additional U.S.-bound NEXUS capacity
- Improved Canada-bound NEXUS operation
- Improved Canada-bound bus operations
- Additional Canada-bound auto processing capacity
- Includes on-site Canada-bound truck secondary inspection area
- Maintains existing main south approach roadway along Goyeau Street
Unique technical features:
- Ample additional public parking
- Better land use opportunity on Wyandotte Street
- Lower property requirements
- Lower total cost
- Tunnel queuing fronting Wyandotte Street to Windsor Avenue but partially concealed from public roads by landscaping
- Relocation of Duty Free Delivery Bay
- Orientation of queuing area away from tunnel
Common technical features:
- Adequate plaza facilities and highest U.S.-bound queuing capacity for future needs
- Additional U.S.-bound NEXUS capacity
- Improved Canada-bound NEXUS operations
- Improved Canada-bound bus operations
- Additional Canada-bound auto processing capacity
- Includes on-site Canada-bound truck secondary inspection area
- Maintains existing main south approach roadway along Goyeau Street
Unique technical features:
- derate plaza operational flexibility due to smaller plaza size and queuing location
- Greatest amount of additional public parking
- Better land use opportunity on Wyandotte Street
- Lower property requirements
- Lower total cost
- Tunnel queuing concealed from public roads
- Maintains existing Duty Free Delivery Bay
- Orientation of queuing area towards tunnel
Assessment and Evaluation Criteria
The alternatives will be assessed and evaluated based on the following criteria:
Technical Requirements and Considerations
Plaza Operations
Transportation on municipal roadways
Engineering
Costs
Socio-Economic Environment
Property and Access
Community Effects
Tourism
Land Use and Urban Planning Strategies
Cultural and Natural Environments
Archaeology and Heritage
Air Quality
Property Waste and Contamination
Air Quality Assessment
Air quality assessment of the alternatives indicates that contaminants typical of motor vehicle emissions at all sensitive receptors (e.g. nearby buildings) are well below applicable air quality standards.
Additional (more detailed) air quality assessments on the effectiveness of the proposed mitigation were undertaken. The mitigation strategies reviewed included mature deciduous and coniferous trees and a 5 m high solid barrier. Alternative 2A Modified was selected to model the two possible mitigation techniques.
A study was initiated to do a physical (Flume) modelling of the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel. Flume modelling is qualitative and assesses how exhaust gas dispersion would be expected to occur under meteorological conditions consistent with the area and the effects that the nearby buildings and mitigation measures would have on the local wind flow. The results of the physical model analysis indicated significant benefit, with regard to exhaust gas dispersion, could be provided through the effective use of the proposed landscaping and solid barrier mitigation techniques.
Next Steps
Following this PIC, the Project Team will:
- Review and address all public input received.
- Select the recommended plaza improvement concept based on the input received from the public and stakeholders.
- Based on the recommended plaza improvement concept, develop the Canadian Plaza Master Plan including:
- Way-finding needs;
- Short-term improvements;
- Staging implementation;
- Specific future course of action leading to the implementation of the Master Plan.
- Present the recommended alternative and the Canadian Plaza Master Plan at PIC 4, scheduled for later this year.
Contacts
Would you like to be included in the study mailing list? Do you have any questions or comments regarding the study? Please let us know your thoughts by sending us your feedback or contacting any of the following Study Team members listed below.
|
Michael Chiu, P.Eng., |
Wadah Al-Yassiri, P. Eng., |
Rakesh Shreewastav, P. Eng., |
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Last modified: July 29, 2010