Shetland Islands Could Get Billion Pound Tunnel Network
The Eysturoy tunnel in the Faroe Islands Photo Visit Faroes
A massive engineering project to build four undersea road tunnels linking the Shetlands has been proposed to boost the Scottish islands’ population and economy.
Under the proposal Yell, Whalsay, Unst and Bressay would all be joined to the main Shetland island by tunnels buried under the seabed. The idea echoes a scheme that revitalised the Faroe Islands.
According to a report by BBC News the cost of the tunnels would top one billion pounds, but, in the long run, it would be cheaper than refreshing and maintaining the ferry fleet currently employed.
To join Yell to Shetland would require a 4.2 mile tunnel dug 50 metre below the seabed and would cost £352 million, plus a further £90 million to maintain it over the following 60 years. A ferry, meanwhile, would weigh in at £548 million as a minimum. The Whalsay tunnel would be £427.5 million, plus £95.5 million for maintenance, which would be just over half the price of ferries. To build the Unst link is estimated at £375 million and the Bressay tunnel £268 million.
“Emma Macdonald, the Shetland council leader, told the BBC: “When islands have fixed links like causeways, bridges and tunnels, they experience repopulation, economic growth and a reduction in average age. Doing nothing is not an option in Shetland. We have islands depending on old, unreliable, carbon-heavy ferries, which are depopulating and continually at risk of ferry breakdowns.”
Shetlands councillors are expected to make their decision at a meeting at the end of June.
Photo Shutterstock
A massive engineering project to build four undersea road tunnels linking the Shetlands has been proposed to boost the Scottish islands’ population and economy.