St. Catharines tunnel vision never materialized
Q: We would like some information if you can find it about a tunnel that was going to be built about the late ’ 50s under the canal in St. Catharines, at the end of Carlton St. and the Canal Rd.
A: A St. Catharines tunnel under the Welland Canal wasn’t just a pipe dream.
An elaborate system of pipes was, in fact, laid out across the fl oor of the canal above Lock 2 at Carlton St. in March 1966 in preparation for the start of construction.
Up to that point, artist conceptions were drawn up, studies ordered, construction dates scheduled and dirt moved.
But the estimated $ 12- million tunnel never came to be and has all but been forgotten by history.
St. Catharines author Roberta Styran, who has written five books about the Welland Canal with Robert Taylor, was one of the few people Search Engine contacted who remembered the Carlton St. tunnel project.
Styran said the project was put on hold when plans were announced for a rerouting of the canal.
She referred to a March 27, 1967, letter from St. Lawrence Seaway Authority’s Welland region director of construction to the treasury board. In it, the director said the department of highways suspended design and deferred construction of the tunnels in St. Catharines and Welland, pending further developments.
All the schemes were scrapped by the 1980s, she said, believed to be due to lack of funds.
Th e tunnel idea came about in an era when a lot of projects were being proposed for the Welland Canal, including twinning it and creating “super locks.”
The St. Catharines tunnel project came very close to reality.
In May 1963, St. Catharines Mayor Ivan Buchanan mentioned in a speech that he’d like to sit down with seaway offi cials about a St. Catharines tunnel, according to stories in Th e Standard.
Three month slater, St. Catharines city council asked staff to report back on the tunnel idea and make recommendations on the best location for it. By December of that year, the city had ruled out Linwell Rd. and narrowed down their choices to Scott St. or Carlton St.
But local politicians were taken by surprise in May 1964 when the federal government announced a tunnel would be built at Carlton St. The mayor called it “a timely and proper development.”
The tunnel was supposed to be 1,400 feet with four lanes and would replace a drawbridge at Carton St. Completion was set for 1969.
Preliminary excavation work started in January 1965, detailed in Standard articles. Test borings were carried out on the western side of the canal and preparations were made to start excavation in the canal channel. Toronto contractor C. A. Pitts Ltd. began creating a road for its equipment in the fl oor of the canal.
The plan was to construct the tunnel in segments in a special dry dock. Precast reinforced concrete sections would then be lowered into position and sunk in the trench after the canal was drained. Th e segments would be joined together by concrete sections.
In March 1965, the province moved up the completion date to summer 1968.
Everything looked to be on track when in January 1966 reports said construction on the tunnel would start that summer.
But the headline in the May 20,1966, Standard read, “New route for canal being planned.”
Th e rest is non- history.