The Anonymous Widower

Now This Is What I Call A Tunnel!

This story from the BBC web site is more significant than you think. Here’s the introduction.

The Norwegian government has backed an ambitious plan to create the world’s first ship tunnel. But why has nobody tackled this engineering feat before?

At 45m high (148ft) and 36m (111ft) wide, the Stad Ship Tunnel will be the only one of its kind – a passage through solid rock able to accommodate 16,000 tonne freight and passenger ships.

Ship canals have long been used to make journeys more direct and safer but the Stad peninsula is a mountainous divide, peaking at 645m, between the Norwegian Sea to the north and the North Sea to the south.

it may or may not go ahead, but it does show how confident engineers and tunnellers are in their hole digging.

And that is the significance of the story!

Crossrail in London is being dug in soft ground, but it shows how by-passes can be created under London with relative ease.

We shall be seeing a lot more tunnels in the next few decades, as the technology is just getting better every year.

April 19, 2013 - Posted by AnonW | News | Norway, Ship, Tunnels