Suðuroy tunnel plan riddled with challenges

The Vágar subsea tunnel is about 5 km in length, the Eysturoy tunnel is 11.2 km and the upcoming Sandoy tunnel is 10.5 km.

All three tunnels required a great deal of engineering skill and effort to complete.

A much bigger challenge lies ahead with the proposed 26 km tunnel from Streymoy to Suðuroy.

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“A lot of loose ends need to be tied before we can begin the construction phase for the Suðuroy tunnel,” project supervisor Kristian Stórhamar, who has been involved with the construction of the other three tunnels, said at yesterday’s public meeting in the village of Hov.

An additional set of safety requirements applies to tunnels that are longer than 10 km, and the question of whether there should be a single tunnel linking Streymoy directly to Suðuroy or whether there should be two tunnels via Sandoy remains up in the air.

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“New tunnels must also be future proofed with regards to e.g. electric and self-driving vehicles.”

Budgets ranging from DKK 3 billion to DKK 5.4 billion have been mentioned.

“As long as there is no agreement on these issues, no price is right,” said the project supervisor.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.