Tunnel linking Europe to Africa planned [2003, with February update]

New Scientist ^ | December 15, 2003 | Will Knight

[SunkenCiv]

Construction of a tunnel linking Europe and Africa could begin within five years after Spain and Morocco agreed to a major engineering study of the Strait of Gibraltar.

The tunnel could be dug between Punta Paloma in southern Spain and Punta Malabata near Tangier in Morocco. It would run for 38.5 kilometres and would pass beneath the strait for 27 kilometres at a depth of about 300 metres.

The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow and turbulent stretch of water connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The shortest distance across is just 19 kilometres. But the seabed is so deep across this stretch that a tunnel would need to be dug at a depth of 900 metres...

The ministry has already built an experimental tunnel that is more than half a kilometre long. Core samples of the rock beneath the strait will be taken to develop a picture of its geology.

Like the Channel Tunnel, which links the UK and France beneath the English Channel, the new link would consist of two main tunnels linked by a smaller maintenance passageway. But the Channel Tunnel is slightly longer, covering 49 kilometres.

There are also plans to build a 54-kilometre tunnel through the mountains between Lyon, France and Turin, Italy by 2020. A 125-kilometre-long tunnel under the water between Taiwan and mainland China has also been proposed.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, it would be remarkable, but Britain and France (which were in much better position to build the Chunnel, from both an engineering and financial standpoints) wound up way over budget, way behind schedule, and has never made money.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/27/AR2007012701334_2.html — “Also looming large is the red ink incurred by the Chunnel. Private investors, who paid the bulk of the $20 billion price tag, have suffered heavy losses; the operator, Eurotunnel, has verged on bankruptcy for years.”

http://www.fcw.com/blogs/thelectern/chunnel_paris_l_2075-1.html — “the cost of Chunnel overruns was borne by shareholders and bondholders, both of whom lost lots of money.”

http://www.businessweek.com/1997/51/b3558053.htm — (from 1997) “Construction companies lost more than $1 billion on the project. Since the tunnel’s opening, it has produced a $3.2 billion operating loss for Eurotunnel.”

[Chode]

no doubt...

[SouthTexas]

Talk about a target!