Norðoyatunnilin

Norðoyatunnilin (The Northern Isles Tunnel) is a two-lane road tunnel under the Leirvíksfjørður in the Faroe Islands. It connects the islands of Eysturoy and Borðoy. The tunnel is 6.3 km long and goes down to a depth of 150 metres below sea level. The maximum gradient is approximately 6 percent. The tunnel entrances are near the towns of Leirvík on Eysturoy, and Klaksvík on Borðoy. Until Eysturoyartunnilin opens in 2020, Norðoyatunnilin is the longest tunnel in the Faroe Islands.

Light art by Tróndur Patursson
Stamp of 2006 by Postverk Føroya.
Norðoyatunnilin seen from the western (Leirvík) side

History

In 1988 Landsverkfrøðingurin (the national office of public works) carried out a number of seismic investigations in Leirvíksfjørður (the strait between Eysturoy and Borðoy). A year earlier, an engineer had drawn up an overall plan showing alternative sites for constructing tunnels. Further surveys in 1988 confirmed that the tunnel plans were considered to be economically viable. Fifteen years after the first surveys, work began on boring the tunnel between Eysturoy and Borðoy. The official opening of the tunnel was on April 29th, 2006.[1] In 2007, the tunnel had 662,828 vehicles, and 1,308,519 in 2019 (3,585 per day).[2]

See also

References
  1. Tunnel.fo. "Norðoyartunnilin í tølum" (in Faroese).
  2. Mohr, Bjarni (4 January 2020). "Klaksvík subsea tunnel traffic has tripled". Kringvarp Føroya (in Faroese).

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