Townline Tunnel
The Townline Tunnel is an underwater tunnel in Welland, Ontario, Canada carrying Highway 58A as well as the Canadian Pacific Railway under the Welland Canal.
The tunnel
The Townline Tunnel is a two-cell reinforced concrete tunnel with a rectangular cross-section. The roof is a post-tensioned concrete slab.The tunnel was built as a part of the Welland By-Pass project. Its construction was relatively easy since, like the Main Street Tunnel, it was being built at the same time as the channel above it and a simple cut and cover method could be used.
The tunnel provides a sidewalk for pedestrians, two lanes for vehicular traffic, as well as room for three sets of tracks for rail vehicles. It was opened for automobiles on July 13, 1972, and the first train crossed the tunnel on January 31, 1973.
The tunnel is 330 metres long and 35 metres wide. The low grade required for trains makes necessary that each approach to the tunnel stretch be 4 km. There was removed about 13,750,000 cubic meters of material and construction of three viaducts on each side of the canal. As well, a solid earth plug had to be put into the Welland Recreational Waterway, cutting it in two. The construction cost was $40 million. The middle rail line was removed in the 1990s and the two remaining tracks now serve as the CPR Hamilton Subdivision and the CPR Brookfield Siding. Townline Tunnel is known locally as the "Stinky Tunnel" due to the strong odor of rotten eggs as one passes through it. The distinct smell of hydrogen sulfide that is sometimes present in the tunnel is created by dissolving layers of gypsum which are present in the bedrock of the area.