A tunnel could provide an alternative to crossing the often choppy Irish Sea Photo by: Centre for Cross Border Studies
Posted on 08/02/2014 11:17:33 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The longest sea bridge in the world at 20.2 miles long is the Donghai bridge that links Shanghai to Yangshan in China.
A bridge from either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland would have to be even longer than that.
In 2007, a 21-mile rail bridge was proposed between Galloway, Scotland, to Belfast, Northern Ireland. The idea would have trains running from Dublin, through Belfast, over the sea to Scotland, and then down railways into London...
"Four main routes have been proposed. Two run from Scotland to Northern Ireland - Campbeltown to County Antrim, or Stranraer to Belfast. Two run from Wales to the Republic, a northern and southern route, where the Welsh peninsula juts into the Irish Sea."
The northern route to Wales would stretch from Dublin to Holyhead, while the southern route extends from Rosslare to Fishguard.
Bill Grose, the former chairman of the British Tunneling Society, says that there are "two critical issues for siting the tunnel."
The first would be finding a location that maximizes the demand for transport across the sea and how well the location is served by existing infrastructure at either end of the connection.
The second would be the shortest distance across the sea. Between Dublin and Holyhead is roughly 50 miles of water, Waterford and Fishguard is 45, and Belfast to Stranraer is around 20 miles.
The route from Antrim to Campbeltown covers only 12 miles of sea, but because Campbeltown is in an isolated part of the country with little existing infrastructure, transport links would need to be established to cut through some mountainous terrain.
"Intuitively Holyhead to Dublin is a more preferable route than the others. It's closer to Manchester and Liverpool and connects straight into Dublin," says Grose.
(Excerpt) Read more at irishcentral.com ...
A tunnel could provide an alternative to crossing the often choppy Irish Sea Photo by: Centre for Cross Border Studies
Dublin to anywhere would be the best choice.
Such tunnels would be a prime target for IRA Terrorists.
Or jihadists.
Keep the Snakes out of Ireland
“Snakes In A Tunnel” — idea for later.
If its a bridge, how high would it have to be? LOTS of traffic going through there.
Too late. The script was probably already written and signed off by the fine folks at The Asylum production company five minutes after you posted the idea.
On the long span there’d have to be two high spots for big boat traffic; on the shorter spans perhaps one would do (better to have two though, one for each direction).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant’s_Causeway#Legend
> According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he. Fionn’s wife, Oonagh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the ‘baby’, he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow. Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal’s Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this.
The snakes own Burmingham. Ireland for the Irish.
Everything, including the Chunnel, is a target for terrorists.
So what?
;’)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3142457/posts?page=76#76
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3142457/posts?page=91#91
I'll be able to give you a personal report as (weather permitting) I'll be visiting the Giant's Causeway site next month during a several day stay in Ireland. Looking forward to it with great anticipation!
Would have been. The troubles are over. The only Republicans who are still committed to violence are sad, disorganised wannabes, not the serious, well trained, committed Provisional IRA members who wreaked such havoc 20-40 years ago...
Excellent!
Some lotto winner should buy land in Holyhead England.
Would the Channel Tunnel have mattered if it had existed in 1941?
Must have been planned by the same people who designed the California bullet train. Pay more and take 10 times as long as flying, plus trillions of government money to build and run it. Liberals and their obsession with passenger trains.
I had never realized Ireland and Scotland were so close together. Ireland is actually closer than some of the Outer Hebrides.
My wild guess is, the project will be a tunnel; it’ll cross between N Ireland and Scotland; it will be on the drawing board for the next twenty years; it will lack political backing off and on, further delaying it; and ultimately it will cost too much.
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