Toronto Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport | ?m | ?s | Ports Toronto | Arup

I fly Porter once a week and will not miss the ferry one bit. It's frustrating if you just missed it to wait for it to go over, unload, load up and come back.
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The benefit of a tunnel (or a bridge) is that you will no longer need to rush to make the ferry, reducing one more area of stress. As well, it should significantly cut down on the bunching up of people at the check-in areas and taxi queues.
 
Good point that the draw bridge could be delayed by boat traffic -- however, most of the time, there isn't actually great deal of boat traffic. While traffic might be a big issue on July afternoons, I don't see it being a big issue outside of the summer.

EDIT: A tunnel also has the benefit of not being outdoors and exposed to the elements. It might be a nice walk across a bridge on a day like today (sunny and hot), but in January, not so much... of course, with a bridge your taxi could drop you off on the island side so you shouldn't need to walk across the bridge.
 
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So I'm at the airport right now. I generally fly out of here about a dozen times per year, but this is my first time being here since Air Canada resumed flight service. They really, really need a bridge. Or a tunnel. Or a transporter. The ferry has become ridiculously busy. It was already rather packed, but it is now noticeably worse.
 
Relocating the old terminal off of the island would free up that space for any future main terminal expansion. Given the growing traffic, an expansion might become necessary before too long.

Or more parking spaces. You can never have too many of those.
 
I go by on QQ almost daily, and at times the traffic is quiet heavy coming from the airport (mostly taxis, people picking up/dropping off others) and am wondering what will be done when the volumes increase? Will they also be possibly in the future building a parking garage/pick up drop off area on the actual island? If not they will outgrow the space they have now, maybe get rid of the park there at Bathurst/QQ or at least a portion of it?
 
nfitz said:
... maybe they could build a bridge, and have a large loop on the other side for drop-offs/pick-ups.
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Yes, though the loop on the other side wouldn't need to 'large' since the bridge itself would providesome added roadway that reduces cues.

A tunnel is great, but it still fails to provide emergency access to/from the islands. I dual tunnel where half stops at the airport and half carries on to the land beyond the airport would be ideal. The costs could be offset by decreasing the amount of ferry service provided at certain times of day - or time of year - and allow 24-7 access to the fortunate souls who reside there.

I'd personally develop the outer parts of the island with improved beaches, boardwalks, restaurants and retail and low-rise hotels and finance the bridge through their development fees. I'm talking the outer edge only, from about Hanlans Point to Chippewa, so the the majority would remain greenery and parkland. Still, there is about a 2km stretch that could not only generate revenues and improve services, but make it much more of an attraction to a wider number of citizens and visitors alike.
 
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