Tunnel vision is generally considered to be a negative trait for busi-ness people, politicians and public administrators.

But people living in Labrador and western Newfoundland are thinking a great deal about one specific tunnel, one that would link the island with the North American mainland. In the mid-1970s, ground was actually broken on the Northern Peninsula, although unforeseen fracturing in the Rock forced a quick end to the project. Former premier Danny Williams also resuscitated the tunnel during the 2003 election.

A 2004 study, the most extensive of several feasibility reviews, concluded that a 17-kilometre long tunnel linking the Northern Peninsula with the south coast of Labrador across the Strait of Belle Isle would take 11 years to complete at a cost $1.7 billion. Costs could be mitigated by almost $400 million if electrical power lines were combined with the roadway.

Williams decided against proceeding any further because the savings from eliminating ferry routes to Labrador would not come close to making the project feasible.

But the idea has refused to die. Drilling technology has improved, led by Norwegian innovations that have substantially reduced boring times. Norway’s 7.7-kilometre long Eiksund Tunnel cost just $90 million and took three years to build when it opened in 2008.

Proponents of a tunnel under the Strait of Belle Isle point to the benefits, which include avoiding long ferry journeys from Newfoundland to North Sydney, N.S. In addition, new opportunities for economic development and tourism would arise along the north shore of Quebec, southern Labrador and Newfoundland’s west coast.

The push for a tunnel has gained momentum in tandem with the proposed Muskrat Falls hydroelectric power project, as plans call for an underwater cable to be buried under the seabed across the Strait of Belle Isle.

With related highway improvements and construction on the verge of commencing on the Muskrat Falls project, municipal leaders and business people argue that the time has now come to build a tunnel to link Labrador with Newfoundland.

Last summer, Premier Cathy Dunderdale announced that her government would conduct yet another study of the concept. Federal politicians such as Gerry Byrne have suggested that Ottawa should help finance the project, as it would add to Canada’s national highway infrastructure.

But Nalcor Energy, which is leading the Muskrat Falls project, is opposed to doing anything more than laying transmission cables into a trench across the Strait of Belle Isle.

Nalcor disputes the contention that a tunnel could be built as quickly and as cheaply as proponents believe. The Norwegian example is a bad one, Nalcor says, because sedimentary rock in the Strait of Belle Isle is subject to more fracturing and leakage than the bedrock in Scandinavia.

These arguments may eventually carry more weight with Dunderdale’s government than those who yearn for a convenient transportation route between the two parts of Newfoundland and Labrador. But a final decision is expected this year; until then, the dream lives on.  IE