Fantastic news for people with the unfortunate coalescence of both claustrophobia and sea sickness: Norway is about to start construction on a fuck-off huge tunnel exclusively for big ol’ boats.
The Stad tunnel will see an entire mile of mountain blasted clean through (because Scandinavia is metal as fuck), to allow ships to pass through without having to navigate the Stad peninsula.
While the tunnel won’t actually save any journey time, it will make sure that it’s safe to travel the notoriously unkind major shipping route between Bergan and Alesund all year round.
The tunnel will cost just shy of $420 million AUD (blaze it), on account of the fact that it is going to be monstrously fucking huge – measuring 1.7 kilometres in length, 37 metres in height and 26.5 metres wide (approximately 40,000 times the size of your bedroom, for reference).
While that’s quite big compared to your bedroom, it’s not all that big compared to say, a cargo ship, as this simulated image shows:
Wouldn’t want to be too precious about the paint on your ship, hey.
The tunnel should be done around 2029, allowing up to 16,000-ton freight vessels to travel through an entire goddamn mountain. What a world.
Source and photos: Norwegian Coastal Administration.
