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Thu March 28 2024

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Breakthrough reached in Faroe Islands tunnel

11 Jun 19 NCC has celebrated the breakthrough of the 11.2km main branch of the Eysturoy Tunnel in the Faroe Islands.

The breakthrough of the 10.5m-wide tunnel came as planned, 27 months after NCC began the tunnel construction work in January 2017. At its deepest, the tunnel is 189 metres below the seabed and it boasts the Atlantic Ocean’s first and only sub-sea roundabout. The contract has a value of NOK1.4bn (£128m).

On completion, the subsea tunnel will cut journey times to the capital Tórshavn from many locations on the Faroe Islands.

Over the next eighteen months or so, the tunnel will now be fitted out, ready for its scheduled opening at New Year 2021.

“The tunnel required considerably more injection than was typical for the other tunnels on the Faroe Islands – 7,500 tonnes of injection grout, to be precise,” said project manager Alf Helge Tollefsen from NCC Infrastructure. “The teams have done an excellent job. NCC has also had to battle with a zone of extremely poor rock quality.”

NCC has also embarked on the second phase of the Faroese contract, building the 10.5 km Sandøy Tunnel, which will run from Gamlarætt on the island of Streymoy to Traðardalur on Sandoy.

Both tunnels in the contract will lead to safer roads and shorter journey times between Tórshavn and many other places in the Faroes, making an important contribution in bringing the community, businesses and people closer together. Construction of the two tunnels is also the biggest infrastructure investment ever made on the Faroe Islands.

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MPU
MPU

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