Strait of Gibraltar crossing

The Strait of Gibraltar crossing is a hypothetical bridge or tunnel spanning the Straits of Gibraltar that would connect Europe and Africa. The governments of Spain and Morocco appointed a joint committee to investigate the feasibility of linking the two continents, which resulted in the much broader Euromed Transport project.

Several engineers have designed bridges on various alignments and with differing structural configurations. Professor T.Y. Lin’s proposal for a crossing between Point Oliveros and Point Cirse featured deep piers, a length of 14 kilometres (9 miles), 910-metre-tall (3,000 ft) towers, and a 5,000-metre (16,000-foot) span, more than twice the length of the current longest bridge span.

In 2004, architect Eugene Tsui published his concept for a floating and submerged bridge, connected at a three-mile wide island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

In 2004, the Science Museum, London published an image of the proposed Gibraltar Straits road bridge.

Various tunnels have been proposed. Spain first proposed a modern tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar in 1930. A major problem arose when the engineers hired by the Spanish government discovered that the material under the Strait was extremely hard rock, making tunnelling impossible with the available technology. One engineering solution was to fix, using cables, a prefabricated concrete tunnel to the floor of the Strait. This tunnel would handle automotive and train traffic. Nothing came of this proposed solution.

A 2008 geological study cast doubt on the tunnel's practicality. In March 2009, a contract was issued for a joint system linking the Moroccan Société Nationale d'Etudes du Détroit de Gibraltar (SNED) with its Spanish counterpart, Sociedad española de estudios para la comunicación fija a través del Estrecho de Gibraltar S.A (SECEGSA). A three-year study for a railway tunnel was announced in 2003. SNED and SECEGSA commissioned several seabed surveys.

The Strait depth extends to 900 metres (3,000 ft) on the shortest route, although it is only about 300 metres deep slightly further west, where the European and African tectonic plates meet. The shortest crossing is 14 kilometres (8.7 mi). The proposed route of 23 kilometres (14 mi) is west of Tarifa and to the east of Tangier. The tunnel is likely to be about 34 kilometres (21 miles) in all. It is proposed that a connection would have to be made to the Spanish high speed railway network, which has a line projected to be built from Cádiz to Málaga via Algeciras.

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Wikipedia