Tunnel Vision
theEdge
Underwater tunnels are altering the world map.
By joining lands that historically have been connected via lengthy surface routes, these megaprojects can significantly cut down travel times. But
with myriad funders, approval agencies and engineering challenges stretching across long schedules, underwater tunnel projects also face a high
level of uncertainty.
The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link tunnel will connect
Denmark and Germany. Lying below the Baltic Sea
and comprising a twin-track railway and four-lane
motorway, the US$10 billion project will reduce
travel time from 45 minutes by ferry to seven minutes by train or 10 minutes by car. Rather than the
traditional tunnel design of boring below the seabed, the 11-mile ( 17.7-kilometer) Fehmarnbelt will
be built on land and then submerged, becoming
the world’s longest immersed tunnel when finished
in 2024, 13 years after the project launched.
“The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link realizes the dream of
a direct connection between Scandinavia and conti-
nental Europe,” says Bo Eske Nielsen, project direc-
tor, Femern A/S. The Copenhagen, Denmark-based
organization is planning and building the tunnel for
the Danish government, the project owner. “It will
promote the continuous integration of Europe.”
So will the Eurasia Tunnel. When the five-year
project is completed in 2017, the Eurasia Tun-
nel will connect the Asian and European sides of
Istanbul, Turkey via a highway running under the
Bosporus Strait. The US$1.25 billion, two-story
underwater tunnel, 5. 4 kilometers ( 3. 4 miles) long,
will cut travel time from 100 minutes to 15 min-
utes. It’s not the only tunnel beneath the Bosporus
in Turkey’s largest city: The Marmaray, a US$4
billion, 13.6-kilometer ( 8.5-mile) railway, opened
in 2013. And the Eurasia Tunnel won’t be the last:
In early 2015, the government announced a US$3.5
billion, 6.5-kilometer (4-mile) tunnel that will have
two levels for cars and a third for trains when it
opens in 2020.
“Istanbul is a heavily trafficked city,” says Nigel
Hailey, a Birmingham, England-based director for
Arup, a technical, environmental and traffic adviser
on the Eurasia Tunnel. “There clearly is a demand
for cars to cross the Bosporus.”
By improving transportation networks, these
underpasses promise to bolster economic networks
The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link
tunnel will connect Denmark
and Germany.
“The Fixed
Link will not
only benefit
the centers of
Hamburg and
Copenhagen,
but also offer
opportunities
for the regions
between both
metropolises.”
—Bo Eske Nielsen, Femern
A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark
