Hi Mr. Kotyk,

RE: "The editorial ignored the small problem of transporting several hundred people a day across a fully utilized runway." & "It failed to point out that once at the airport, island residents were not likely to be permitted to cross runways busy with 212 daily flights."

Let's revive the dead horse that CAIR has prematurely declared DOA.
EVEN if the Island airport, ONE DAY, has 212 commercial flights, that equates to a landing OR departure every 4 minutes and 35 seconds. Given that the runway is 100ft wide, I estimate it would take a fully loaded TTC bus about 12-15 seconds to cross the pavement. AT Pearson airport with 5 runways (we don't use all 5 at once) and over 1000 flights per day, there are an average of 50+ vehicle crossings of runways every day. Those crossings include groups of Fire trucks responding to emergencies throughout the airfield. Also, large aircraft being towed to hangars also cross the runways so in my professional opinion, there is NO problem associated with crossing busy or busier runways with a bus.

Secondly, on a related matter, I've read on other blogs that in the opinion of some island residents, a link (of any kind) means that the islands are no longer islands. Run that one past the people of PEI who have the Confederation Bridge. Has PEI lost any of it's charm or uniqueness as a result?
Do the people of PEI see themselves as mainlanders? Not likely.

Finally, if a tunnel can bring benefits such as 1) $$$ - reduced ferry operating costs, 2) REAL access benefits for all users AND residents in ALL weather conditions and 3) Environmental gains (less ferry trips = less pollution) then it seems (**notwithstanding the legalities of a link) the only argument against the tunnel is a philosophical one.

Take Care!
Joe