Drivers stuck in traffic on their way home may often wish there was an extra lane they could use to sail past the other vehicles.
But motorists who regularly use one of the widest motorways in the world would say to be careful what they wish for.
Highway 401 in Ontario, Canada, is the widest highway in North America, with 18 lanes at its widest point near Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Despite being far wider than most motorways, it still gets snarled up with drivers sitting for hours in traffic gridlock.
To try and counter this the head of Ontario’s government, Doug Ford, wants to build a 34-mile tunnel underneath the road in Toronto.
He announced a feasibility study in September and reportedly Mr Ford has promised to build the tunnel no matter what the study says.
Ontario’s Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria says internal work is already underway on the project.
Speaking on Focus Ontario, Mr Sarkaria said: “We’re looking to the experts in the field to help us understand and appreciate what it’s going to take to study the feasibility of this.
“We know the urgency, given the gridlock people are facing, so we got to work right away to see what we can possibly do to look at this project.”
He added: “What we know right now is the 401 is one of the most congested highways in all of North America, not just Canada, not just Toronto.
“It continues to be a challenge and we need solutions — and this feasibility study will absolutely look at that.
“We have tunnelled under the 401, with the Scarborough Subway Extension without any disruption to traffic.”
He went on to say: “So we know that we can do this. We have the feasibility study to help us move forward on this and we’re not going to take no for an answer.”
Highway 401 stretches 514 miles from Windsor in the west to the Ontario-Quebec border in the east.
It was opened in stages between December 1947 and October 1968 and was extended between June and November 2015.
