Driving on open, flat land is usually a non-event for most people. It’s when the road is anything but open or flat that is a cause for concern. My sister will not drive over a large bridge…she’s terrified of the prospect of going for a swim. I knew guys who would not drive in the Rocky Mountain passes unless it was absolutely necessary, and then they were the guys doing 45 miles an hour everywhere with their buttocks clenching the driver’s seat with a death grip. As for me, I can handle just about anything, but after seeing this story on Autoblog, I might reconsider a roadway option.
What you are looking at is the proposition for creating a floating tunnel series on European Route E39, the coastal road on the western side of Norway. Here’s the situation: Norway has fjords, and E39 travels through them. Unfortunately for travelers, that means a lot of time waiting on a ferry to cross water sections, because the depth of the fjord is too deep for a bridge, the weather can be hellish, and the Norwegian Sea can be rough. The ferries can take up to an hour to navigate, but this proposal could cut the travel time down to about twenty minutes…if you aren’t claustrophobic, thalassophobic, or tend to do poorly in motorway tunnels. The idea of a floating motorway structure is sound enough…the floating bridges on Lake Washington near Seattle prove that the theory works in principle, but floating tunnels is a new situation that hasn’t been tested yet.
Why floating tunnels? The depths of the fjord brings the seabed into question, and at a mile deep or more in sections, pressure becomes a sincere concern. Here, the tunnels would be suspended a hundred feet below the surface of the water, which (theoretically) should eliminate any tidal or weather effects. So what do you say: would you be willing to take an undersea cruise in suspension, or would you require enough aquavit to become incapacitated before you’ll be able to be driven through?
Must have missed the video on the floating underwater tunnel. Sounds a bit like “jumbo shrimp”. 🙂
Sure, why not? I don’t see how it would be any different from driving through any other tunnel…
I’ve never seen a more compelling reason for Samsonite as this.
I bet the lunatic who dreamed this up wouldn’t drive through it in a force 9 gale – unless his ride was fitted with a washable interior. Iv’e never been sea sick while driving and I never want to find out what its like…
not in this ” lifetime ” … nor ” any other “. No faith in ” STUPID IDEAS ” :
As Steve Buscemi says in Armageddon: Built by the lowest bidder, What could go wrong.
It would be another soft target for ISIS to hit once completed.
Its a better idea than traffic circles, but I see they include several of those abortions in the plan. I’d love to know the cost per mile vs actual use.