Currently the modes of transport being used by the people of Labrador and Newfoundland are inefficient and expensive. At present the people of the region have to bear extra shipping and ferry costs. Much of the tourism business is lost. The extra cost of these factors is estimated at $680 million in extra costs and lost revenues as against $105 million a year (for 40 years) for the proposed tunnel. (Immersed tunnel option 2004)

Ferries cross the Strait of Belle for two thirds of the year and after that people have to fly in or out. Its access to the rest of the country and the North America Free Trade Zone is severely restricted. With the opening of Labrador, businesses would be attracted to invest in the region’s primary resources and also in the secondary manufacturing segments. This will spur economic activity and make available jobs to the Labradorians and The Newfoundlanders who are presently forced to migrate to the rest of the country in search of job opportunities. This exodus means there are less people to bear the cost of civic services and therefore the per capita cost of such services becomes very high. This process increases dependence on the federal aid. The tunnel would bring enormous economic benefits to the people of the two regions. It would stimulate tourism and tourism related industries like hotel, restaurants, transport etc. There is an obvious case therefore to open up this province to the North American markets.

In actual fact the tunnel across the Strait of Belle Isle is a revival of a previous unsuccessful attempt. The Moores government in 1975 made the previous attempt. It was abandoned after 75-million dollars were spent. Everyone is determined not to make the mistakes of the past. That project however did not envisage public transportation and so the single use (power transmission lines) did not make it economically feasible. T he Newfoundland and Labrador government had then tried to transfer Labrador hydropower to the Island across the Strait of Belle Isle .
( Strait of Belle Isle Immersed Rail Tunnel 2004)

Tory leader, Danny Williams , is making the project a priority and he feels confident that along with the tunnel the road link too will be established. The cost has not been calculated with any degree of precision but estimates put it at about a billion dollars. The sources of financing have not been finalized either. The Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island was made on a BOT (build, own and transfer) basis. Similarly the tunnel can be financed on a BOT basis. The investors can recover their investment through tolls and then transfer it debt free to the government. The project is estimated to cost 1 billion to 1.5 billion Canadian dollars. Various completion periods are quoted from four to eight years.

At present the people of the region have to bear extra shipping and ferry costs. Much of the tourism business is lost. The extra cost of these factors is estimated at $680 million as against $105 million a year (for 40 years) for the proposed tunnel.

The geology of the area is such that there are subsoil water inflows present in abundance. These inflows could flood a tunnel that is bored or dug. The experts have come out with a solution in the form of an immersed tunnel. The tunnel would be 12m wide by 8.5m high. The technology involves the prefabrication of concrete sections, 175 to 200 meters in length (for the 16 km length 96 segments at 167m are required) and then floating these to the areas where they are required. These are then lowered into trenches some 60 to 90 meters deep. A stone cover is then laid on top to protect these from the passing ships or icebergs. Granular fill (locking fill) around the tunnel establishes its structure within the seabed material.

Accurate alignment and sealing of the joints are obviously very important. Depth of the seabed, velocities of tidal currents, and surface weather conditions will affect the project and influence the type of technology required.

The most advantageous option would be the multi-use tunnel. It should ideally be a rail and road tunnel with a separate channel for power cables. Already there are over a hundred immersed tunnels in the world. Like the one that links Denmark with Sweden or the one that crosses the St. Laurence River near Montreal .
Experts agree that initially traffic would be low so railcars would carry vehicles loaded on the. That would eliminate the problem of emission from gasoline-powered vehicles.

A spin off advantage is the thousands of jobs that would be created due to the construction of the tunnel. Newfoundland has construction facilities available for building the tunnel with some modifications.