Written by Sanjana Nayakanti, a grade 5 student.

Did you know that the world’s first tunnel for ships is to be built in Norway?

Yes, you heard it right! Norway is about to spend over $315 million to build, what’s being called the Stad Ship Tunnel.  This amazing project is designed to help ships navigate the treacherous Stadhavet sea in North-Western Norway.

Currently, ships have to wait for days for weather conditions to improve, as this area experiences a lot of storms.

At the moment, ships navigating the surroundings of Stadhavet are often impacted by rough tides and bad weather. But since the tunnel will go through mountains, the weather will not impact the ships.

How will it be built?

To build this tunnel, many buildings and about 30 lakh cubic cms of rock and soil will be removed. It will be about 1.7 km long, 31 meters high and 26-27 meters wide.

The Norway coastal administration, which is heading this project, plans to burrow through the mountains via underground drillings. The construction will start by early 2022 and will be completed in 3 to 4 years, that is latest by 2026.

What’s Stad?

This peninsula is one of the most exposed areas on the coast without any islands around it to protect from the harsh weather conditions.

This tunnel is a planned canal made in what’s called the Stad peninsula, which lies in the northwest part of Norway. It was proposed by the Norway Coastal Administration about 5 to 6 years ago. The government did not accept this at first, but now, they think it’s a good idea to help the ships to reach their destination sooner and hence they are taking up this project.

There are some animated predictions of it on YouTube to show how it will be done.

This tunnel will also have some traffic signals at the beginning and at the end so that the movement of the ships can be controlled. This tunnel will be lit with many lights and will look beautiful to see and may also attract many tourists in coming years.

Where’s Norway?

Norway is a beautiful, mountainous country in Northern Europe. It occupies the western half of what’s called the Scandinavian peninsula. Its capital is Oslo.

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norway_in_Europe_(%2BSvalbard)(-mini_map-rivers).svg

Written by Sanjana Nayakanti:
She’s part of the Summer Internship at I Kid You Not

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