AUTO TUNNEL

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3939, 18 March 1930, Page 2

AUTO TUNNEL

AN ENGINEERING MARVEL

New marvels of engineering and air control have been achieved m the mile and a-quarter long international automobile tunnel that will connect Detroit and Windsor under the Detroit River. As the giant ventilating towers arise on each side of the river, the first real outward evidence becomes apparent of the titanic struggle against _ Nature which has .already been waging tor more than a year, and which will continue until next fall, when the -.5,000,OOOdol tunnel will be thrown open to ♦ the public and steady streams of automobiles will begin to flow back and forth between the United States and Canada under the international line. The tunnel, which will be the world s first international automobile tunnel, ranks with both the famous Holland tunnel connecting New York City and Jersey City, and the George A. Posey tunnel connecting Oakland and Alameda, California. . , , , The Detroit terminal is one block east of Woodward avenue in the square bounded by Bates, Randolph, Atwater, and Woodbridge streets. It extends under Randolph street to the _ Detroit River, thence under the Detroit River to the Canadian Harbour line, and under private property to the easterly side of Queljette avenue, between Park and Wyandotte streets, Windsor. I It has a roadway of 22ft and an estimated capacity of 1,000 vehicles per. hour in either direction, being limited to this number by the formalities of Customs regulations. I The tunnel is 5,135 ft from portal to portal, and 5,485 ft from street grade to street grade. It is 45ft. below the channel water level. I New problems of air purification and ventilation have been met and conquered in planning the tunnel, and engineers are confident that air in every section of the great tunnel will be free I from carbon monoxide gas, and purer than the air of the cities above. The ventilation design is based on data obtained in both the Holland and j the Alameda tunnels. A fresh air duct extends under the floor section with the foul air duct between the ceiling slab and the roof of the tunnel throughout the greater length. At the outer sections of the tunnel, both fresh and vitiated air is carried in passageways above the roadway, the fresh air being led from its passageways down the side walls and released from the tunnel near the roadway level. In the ventilating building at each end of the tunnel will be twelve giant fans, six of the blower type and six of the exhaust type. The fresh air is pumped into the tunnel and emitted alongside the road at about the level of the ordinary automobile exhaust. Suction fans operating through the upper duct draw the foul air in through openings in the ceiling slabs. It is conveyed through these ducts and returned to the atmosphere through stacks in the ventilating building. Approximately one million cubic feet of air will be required a minute under maximum operating conditions and a complete change will lie made each 90sec. The power layout is so arranged that any part of the equipment may bo operated from either the American or Canadian side, obviating any likelihood of a power breakdown affecting the ventilating system. Each ventilating tower will have 3,000 gill-like glass openings for the admission of fresh air into the blower system. Canadian ami American companies contributed equally to the production of the ventilating equipment.