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The Faroe Islands are a group of 18 “major” islands and more than 700 smaller islets in the middle of the Norwegian Sea. Technically, the islands are a part of Denmark; however, they operate as an autonomous community with significant authority over internal affairs.
Despite both a small area and small population (about 50,000 – 60,000 citizens), the Faroe Islands have a very well-developed road infrastructure with a series of tunnels connecting the islands with major communities – some of these are tunnels under land, but there are 3 tunnels (with 2 planned) that connect the islands underwater.
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Note: in the map above, both underwater and “under-land” tunnels are labeled; this post references primarily the underwater tunnels only
Three key facts about this map
There are currently more than 14 miles of underwater tunnels operating
Currently, there are 3 underwater tunnels across the country:
- Vágatunnilin – opened in 2002, about 3 miles long
- Norðoyatunnilin – opened in 2006, about 4 miles long
- Eysturoyartunnilin – the newest, opened in 2020, about 7 miles long (one of the longest underwater tunnels in the world)
The costs to build all tunnels was significant – about DKK 1.6 billion total (approx. US$250 million). All tunnels charge fees to use, and the first two tunnels built have fully recouped their initial project costs already.
One of the tunnels has an underwater roundabout
The most-recent tunnel, Eysturoyartunnilin (or Eysturoy), cost about DKK 1 billion DKK (about US$150 million) and is the longest and most-modern tunnel. It is apparently relatively expensive to use – apparently DKK 75/US$11 one-way (with a subscription of DKK 200/US$30 per year – for frequent users), or 175 DKK/US$26 one-way without a subscription.
One of the pieces that justified the high cost of the Eysturoy tunnel was the underwater roundabout, the first of its kind in the world. The roundabout enables the tunnel to connect the main island (where the capital and largest city Torshavn is located) and two separate communities separated by a wide fjord.
There are currently more miles 22 miles of underwater tunnels planned to be built
There is currently another ~7 mile underwater tunnel named Sandoy under construction with plans to be completed by 2023, connecting the main island (where the capital of Torshavn is located) with Sandoy Island. Estimated usership of this tunnel will be about 300-400 vehicles per day.
This may seem low, but usership is expected to increase further upon completion of a second, ~15 mile underwater tunnel called Suðuroy (connecting the islands of Sandoy and Suðuroy). This proposed tunnel is expected to increase the flow of traffic to 1,000+ vehicles per day. The Suðuroy tunnel will be the longest underwater tunnel in the world when completed (estimated for 2030).
Note: the orange lines above are the current tunnels, the blue lines above are the planned tunnels
Additional links and sources
- Website of the company behind the current Eysturoy and planned Sandoy tunnels (link)
- Article on prices levied in the Eysturoy tunnel (link, article from 2020)
- Article (in Danish – good for Google Translate!) outlining infrastructure plans (link, published 2021)
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