Eysturoyartunnilin

Eysturoyartunnilin

Map of where the Eysturoy tunnel will be situated
Overview
Location	Skálafjørður and Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
Status	In progress
Operation
Work begun	2016
Opened	2019-2020
Operator	P/F Eystur- og Sandoyartunlar
Traffic	Automotive
Toll	Yes
Vehicles per day	estimated 6,000
Technical
Length	11,240 m (36,880 ft)
No. of lanes	2
Operating speed	80 km/h (50 mph)
Highest elevation	15 m (49 ft)
Lowest elevation	−187 m (−614 ft)
Width	10.5
Grade	5.0% (max.)

Eysturoyartunnilin (or the Eysturoy Tunnel, earlier known as Skálafjarðartunnilin) is a large infrastructure project which will connect the island of Streymoy to the island of Eysturoy through a sub-sea road tunnel under the Tangafjørður fjord in the Faroe Islands. It will also cross the southern part of Skálafjørður and connect the towns of Runavík on the Eastern side and Strendur on the Western side of the fjord. Altogether, the three-branched sub-sea tunnel will be 11.240 kilometres (6.8 miles) long, including an underwater roundabout. Construction costs are estimated to be around 1 billion DKK.^[7] Drilling will commence on 21 February 2017 and the tunnel is to be finished by 2019-2020.

In 2006, the private company P/F Skálafjarðartunnilin was founded to build this tunnel. Due to the financial crisis, it took the stakeholders several years to materialize the plans and get political support. The tunnel has been included in the 2012 national mobility plan, which abandoned the name Skálafjarðartunnilin and now only refers to Eysturoyartunnilin. In June 2013, another private company, P/F Eysturoyartunnilin, was established in order to pursue a deal between the Faroese national government, the Faroese insurance company LÍV and the Danish-owned Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). CIP had made secret arrangements with the Faroese minister for transport, Kári P. Højgaard, who had to resign in early September as this came out. This led to a small political crisis. In 2015, after the outcomes of an official inquiry, the cabinet of Kaj Leo Johannesen had to call for early elections. Both P/F Skálafjarðartunnilin and P/F Eysturoyartunnilin were liquidated in 2015, after circa two years of idling. In the aftermath of the political crisis of 2013 though, a special commission drafted a proposal for a public rather than private solution. This proposal was supported by all parties and led in 2014 to the establishment of a public company, P/F Eystur- og Sandoyartunlar (in short 'EStunlar' or EST). This company, owned entirely by the Ministry of Transport, is to build, own and manage both the Eysturoyartunnil and the Sandoyartunnil. NCC was contracted to carry out the construction works, which started in 2016 for the Eysturoyartunnil, drilling starts on 21 February 2017. The construction work for the Sandoyartunnil will start in 2018.^[8]