Massive Lego-like blocks form 11-mile Baltic Sea tunnel between Denmark, Germany

(UI) — Construction is advancing on one of Europe’s most ambitious transportation projects: an 11-mile immersed tunnel beneath the Baltic Sea that will connect Denmark and Germany, according to reporting from Yahoo News.

Known as the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, the project will create a direct highway and rail link between the Danish island of Lolland and Germany’s Fehmarn island, replacing a ferry route currently used to cross the water.

The fixed link will carry both a four-lane roadway and a double-track electrified railway. When completed later this decade, the tunnel is expected to significantly shorten travel times between Scandinavia and central Europe. The existing ferry crossing takes about 45 minutes, but the undersea route is projected to reduce the drive to roughly 10 minutes while also cutting train travel between Copenhagen and Hamburg by around two hours, according to project planners cited by Yahoo.

Unlike traditional bored tunnels, the structure is being assembled using enormous prefabricated concrete segments. Engineers are producing nearly 90 individual tunnel elements, each roughly 217 meters (712 feet) long and weighing as much as 73,000 tons. The sections are sealed so they can float, then towed into position, lowered into a trench on the seabed and connected to form the continuous tunnel structure, as reported by Yahoo.

After placement, the tunnel elements are buried under layers of rock, gravel and sand to protect them and ensure they do not interfere with maritime traffic above. The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, expected to open in 2029, carries an estimated construction cost of roughly $8 billion and will become one of the longest immersed road-and-rail tunnels in the world, forming a key transportation corridor linking northern Europe with major freight and passenger routes.

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