| Road Tunnels | Tunnel History |
 The World's longest Road TunnelsSubaqueous Road Tunnels |
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| Australia | The Sydney Harbour tunnel The actual crossing would be a combination of land tunnels on the North and South Harbour which would be connected by an immersed tube tunnel section located in a trench dredged in the Harbour bottom. |
| Canada - USA | The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is approximately one mile long from portal to portal. The American portal is located a few hundred feet from Downtown Detroit while the Canadian end is located in the heart of Windsor's business district. The Tunnel was the first vehicular subway ever built between two nations. At the time of its construction two other tunnels were in use in the United States - the Holland Tunnel in New York and the George A. Posey Tunnel connecting Oakland and Alameda, California. |
| China | Tunnels in Hong Kong The government of Lianjiang County, Fujian Province, has concluded a letter of intent with a Canadian company on building China's longest tunnel Western Harbour Crossing, Hong Kong The 2 km long 6 lane tunnel was opened to traffic on April 30 and is the third road tunnel under Hong Kong harbour. With a width of 33.4 m and a height of 8.5 m, the tunnel comprises 12 precast units |
| England | The Thames tunnel, London, 1825-1843 The driving of this famous Tunnel under the Thames by Brunel the elder may safely be described as one of the Greatest Engineering Feats of Modern Times. The Blackwall tunnel, London, 1892-1897 The Tunnel was begun in 1892 and opened for traffic in 1897. Great difficulties were encountered in constructing it, but thanks to the indomitable perseverance of those concerned, all these were at length successfully surmounted. The Tunnel is 6,200 feet long, and has an internal diameter of 24 feet, 3 inches. One-fifth of the whole is under the river. The Rotherhithe tunnel, London, 1906-1908 A description of the largest iron-lined subaqueous Tunnel in the world. The opening of this new passage under the Thames has greatly facilitated road traffic between the Eastern and South-eastern Districts of London. Dartford River Crossing, 1963 and 1980 The Crossing is situated some 20 miles east of London and carries the M25 motorway traffic across the River Thames between Dartford in Kent and Thurrock in Essex. Two tunnels each 1.4 kilometres long carry four lanes of traffic northbound, and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, 2.8 kilometres long carries four lanes of traffic southbound. River Mersey Road tunnels, Liverpool, 1934, 1971 The tunnel was opened to the public by King George V on 18th July 1934 and, in honour of Queen Mary, who was also at the opening ceremony, it was named Queensway. By 1958, the amount of traffic using the Queensway Tunnel was giving cause for concern and, as the result of a study, it was decided to build a second tunnel linking Liverpool with Wallasey. The 1.8 km Limehouse Link tunnel, London, 1993 was designed, planned and built in just over seven years. This compares remarkably well with the average of fifteen years for other major road schemes. The complexity of the engineering task in construction of the Limehouse Link made it, at the time, the second biggest engineering project in Europe after the Channel Tunnel. |
| Germany | The Elbe Road Tunnels in Hamburg -
Three generations of tunnelling Around 1900, the Elbe river was spanned by only one road bridge and an adjacent railway bridge at the eastern end of Hamburg's port. That situation prompted the decision for the construction of the "Old Elbe tunnel" in the years 1907 to 1911. |
| Iceland | Hvalfjar�arg�ng, 1998
- After
2 years The first subsea road tunnel in Iceland. |
| Japan | Kan-etsu, Japan's longest Road Tunnel Kanetsu tunnel was completed 10,926 m at the one term construction and 11,010 m at the two term construction, and becomes the longest road tunnel in Japan. Outline of Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line Trans-Tokyo bay Highway The Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line (Trans-Tokyo bay Highway) is a 15.1-kilometer toll highway that runs across the central portion of Tokyo bay, connecting Kisarazu in Chiba PREFECTURE with Kawasaki in Kanagawa PREFECTURE by a 15-minute drive. It consists of 4.4 km of bridge starting from the Kisarazu side and roughly 9.5 km of tunnel from the Kawasaki side. At the transition between the bridge and the tunnel portions lies Umi-hotaru (Kisarazu Man-made Island), and another man-made island named Kaze-no-to (Kawasaki Man-made Island) forms the mid point of the tunnel. Man-made islands The man-made island "Kawasaki" was constructed at the mid-point of the underwater tunnel. The entire structure, which serves as a ventilation shaft, was completed in 1996. The tunnel was excavated using the shield-drift method followed immediately with lining work with precast concrete segments. |
| Switzerland | Gotthardtunnel:
Geschichte, Fakten, Pannen, Unf�lle, Zahlen, Tech.
Angaben, Presseartikel Pol. Vorst�sse ... Great St.-Bernard, La meilleure voie pour traverser l'Europe du Nord au Sud Une t�l�surveillance moderne (50 cam�ras - couleur) garantit la s�curit� des quelque 600.000 usagers annuels. Un rev�tement lat�ral sp�cial unique en son genre (panneaux en aluminium) am�liore la visibilit� et l'�clairage. Gr�ce � un syst�me de contr�le et de gestion �lectronique des installations techniques, ce tunnel est le plus moderne des Alpes. |
| USA | VERNON'S TUNNEL The one hundred eight foot keystone arch tunnel, the longest in Connecticut, located on Tunnel Road, is an outstanding example of the stonemason's art. Built between 1846 and 1849, by masons and stonecutters. Washington Street, First Traffic Tunnels under the River, 1869 In July, 1867, the city awarded a contract to J. K. Lake to construct the Washington Street traffic tunnel. It was completed January 1, 1869. This tunnel was 1605 feet long and cost $517,000. The History of the Holland Tunnel from 1906 to 1992 (New York) The tunnel opens after seven years of construction, during which only thirteen "sandhogs" (as the construction workers were called) die. The tunnel when it opens is the longest underwater tunnel in the world, with its north tube 8,558 feet long and its south tube 8,371 feet long. On its first day of operation, 51,694 vehicles pass through. The History of Pennsylvania Turnpike, 1883-1940 This Site Highlights some of the History of Early Transportation in Pennsylvania. America's Tunnel Highway, Pennsylvania Turnpike, 1940 When the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened for business on October 1, 1940, it included two-lane tunnels at Laurel Hill, Allegheny, Ray's Hill, Sideling Hill, Tuscarora, Kittatinny and Blue Mountain. Rapidly increasing traffic volumes, far surpassing anything anticipated by early Turnpike planners, soon made the two-lane tunnels obsolete and prompted consideration of by-passing or "double tunneling" the seven original tunnels. The history of the Lincoln Tunnel, 1934 - 1957 (3 tubes, New York) The work of the sandhogs was dangerous, claustrophobic and tedious. Just entering and exiting the tunnel took a long time. Crews entered air locks, one at a time, after which the doors at each end were sealed. An air pipe started hissing, and the men's ears would pop as the air pressure climbed until it equaled that of the adjoining lock. Queens Midtown Tunnel, 1940 The Queens Midtown Tunnel was opened in 1940 by the New York City Tunnel Authority to relieve traffic congestion on the city's East River bridges. Brooklyn Battery Tunnel , 1950 When the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel opened in 1950, it was the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in North America. It still is. Construction of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel 1940 - 1950 Under the direction of Ole Singstad of the New York City Tunnel Authority, construction of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel commenced in October 1940. Work on the tunnel, originally scheduled for completion in October 1943, was halted due to World War II-induced steel and iron shortages. The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel is the 3.8-mile Hampton Roads crossing for Interstate 64. The twin tunnels are each 7,479 feet long. It connects the South Hampton Roads cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach with the Peninsula cities of Hampton and Newport News. The HRBT has two lanes each way, on separately built structures (WB in 1957, EB in 1976). Average daily traffic is about 90,000 and growing. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, 1964 - 1999 More info For over 30 years, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel has captured worldwide attention as a modern engineering wonder and an important East Coast travel convenience. Fort McHenry Tunnel, Baltimore, "World's Widest", 1985 Sunken Tube Tunnel Construction. A 5,400-ft. eight-lane sunken tube tunnel under congested Baltimore Harbor . |