$2.5M for pedestrian tunnel on Dougall Avenue

Windsor city council is directing $2.5 million to begin work on a pedestrian tunnel through the CN Rail line on Dougall Avenue.

The tunnel is part of the 'central box' transportation study, aimed at making traffic safer and more efficient in downtown Windsor.

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With this funding approval, the city can begin working with CN Rail on the initial stages of the project, said Mayor DrewDilkens.

"The first portion is to go through and get an agreement with the railroad and make sure we have all thegeotechnicalstudies done, to make sure we can actually get through that site,"Dilkenssaid. "That's always been the biggest barrier."

"They're agreeable to move forward with thegeotechnicalstudy so that we can get the data that actually puts us in a position to put a hole through that train track," he said.

Dougall Avenue is one of Windsor's busiest roads, with an average of 42,700 vehicles per day, according to a February report to city council.

The road cannot accommodate four lanes of traffic and sidewalks the way it is currently designed.