IN A transport infrastructure initiative more befitting the 22nd century, designers sweating over a possible fixed link between Scotland and Northern Ireland have come up with the concept of an underwater, yet floating tunnel, 50 metres below the surface of the Irish Sea and stretching 28 miles from Portpatrick to Larne.
Capable of accommodating trucks, cars and shuttle trains, the design team at Herriot-Watt University suggest the current two to three-hour ferry journey would be sliced to 40 minutes.
The theory centres on a ‘submerged floating double-tube bridge’ anchored to the sea bed and tethered to pontoons floating on the surface.
Yes, ships could sail over it and submarines slide quietly below it!
The £12.3 billion scheme is now the engineers’ favoured option over a bridge which they felt would be closed to traffic on a regular basis, due to gale-force winds which prevail in the North Channel.
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