Mayoral and council candidates are banding together in their opposition of a tunnel at Calgary International Airport. (Patricia Ariss/CBC)

A group of city council and mayoral candidates held a rally over the weekend to voice their opposition to a tunnel at the Calgary International Airport.

Mayoral candidate Bob Hawkesworth led the rally, saying the $287-million project would put other, more important city projects at risk.

Hawkesworth called on all the other mayoral candidates to pull the airport tunnel from their agendas.

"This is about only making promises that you know you can deliver on," he said.

"It's making sure that the right investments are made for the future. There are only limited resources available and you have to use them wisely, and I think all of us are simply saying to the city we've gotta make the right choices on our infrastructure."

The tunnel would be built underneath the new 4,270-metre long runway being built at the Calgary International Airport.

The runway requires the closure of Barlow Trail between 48th Avenue and Airport Road N.E. in April 2011. The tunnel would preserve the east-west route to the airport from the city's northeast, connecting 96th Avenue east to 36th Street N.E.

The project's advocates argue without a tunnel, area businesses will be cut-off from airport traffic, and Deerfoot Trail — the other main route to the airport — will become too congested.

However, Hawkesworth said voters are telling him they have bigger priorities than the airport tunnel.

"Southeast LRT is a priority, not this," he said. "This doesn't get any cars off the Deerfoot Trail. If we go ahead with southeast LRT, that's gonna get people out of their cars and using LRT instead."

Helen Laroque, a former alderman and current candidate for Ward 3, said C-Train service is a priority for her as well.

"Candidates who are saying no to the tunnel are largely saying yes to better public transportation," she argued.

Steve Chapman, a candidate for Ward 9, also voiced his opposition.

"Seventy-five per cent of Calgarians will never use this tunnel and will never have an opportunity to use it, so it doesn't move traffic better than what we currently have."

The candidates said by joining together, they hoped to raise awareness about a project they all adamantly oppose.