[ad_1]
Construction has started on an underwater tunnel connecting the Danish island of Lolland with Fehmarn in Germany. The grand opening would have been on Monday, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus epidemic.
The first hoe had to wait more than twenty years, and works finally began in Lolland on Friday, and in parallel also began construction of a factory on the Danish side in Rodby, where the tunnel components will be produced.
With this, one of the largest construction companies in the history of Denmark can start
Danish Transport Minister Benny Engelbrecht said in a first stone on the Internet, where he spoke about traffic in the tunnel starting in 2029.
The tunnel was originally designed as a bridge at the end of the last century, which should have been completed in 2018, but in the 2010s, engineers discovered that it involved less construction risk and cost about the same amount if an underwater tunnel were built in place of a bridge. The project has also been under attack for years by environmentalists concerned about marine life and ferry companies who fear its routes will be impossible and jobs will be lost.
The 18-kilometer-long tunnel received its construction permit in 2015. In 2016, construction costs were estimated at 7.1 billion euros, or around 2.6 billion HUF. It was estimated that the connection to the German motorway network would cost Fehmarn on the German side an additional 3.5 billion euros.
When completed, the tunnel will reduce travel time by one hour by road and two hours by train between Hamburg and Copenhagen, which currently means a journey of 4-5 hours.
[ad_2]
