Strait of Sicily Tunnel
Encyclopedia
The Tunnel under the Strait of Sicily is a proposed megaproject
to link Sicily
and Tunisia
. The distance between the coastlines is about 155 kilometre and would be reached by five tunnels constructed between four intermediate artificial island
s which will be built with the excavated material. A preliminary study was promoted by the ENEA
institute.
The connections across the Strait of Sicily, as of 2011, are by car ferry and air travel. There are ferries Palermo-Tunis (3 round trips per week), Trapani-Tunis (1 round trip per week), Civitavecchia to Tunis (2 per week), Genoa-Tunis and Marseille-Tunis.
Megaproject
A megaproject is an extremely large-scale investment project. Megaprojects are typically defined as costing more than US$1 billion and attracting a lot of public attention because of substantial impacts on communities, environment, and budgets. Megaprojects can also be defined as "initiatives that...
to link Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
. The distance between the coastlines is about 155 kilometre and would be reached by five tunnels constructed between four intermediate artificial island
Artificial island
An artificial island or man-made island is an island or archipelago that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means...
s which will be built with the excavated material. A preliminary study was promoted by the ENEA
ENEA (Italy)
The L'Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l'energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile is an Italian Government sponsored research and development agency...
institute.
The connections across the Strait of Sicily, as of 2011, are by car ferry and air travel. There are ferries Palermo-Tunis (3 round trips per week), Trapani-Tunis (1 round trip per week), Civitavecchia to Tunis (2 per week), Genoa-Tunis and Marseille-Tunis.
See also
- Strait of Messina BridgeStrait of Messina BridgeThe Strait of Messina Bridge is a long-planned suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina, a narrow section of water between the eastern tip of Sicily and the southern tip of mainland Italy. In 2006, under Prime Minister Romano Prodi the project was cancelled...
- Strait of Gibraltar crossingStrait of Gibraltar crossingA Strait of Gibraltar crossing is a hypothetical bridge or tunnel spanning the Strait of Gibraltar that would connect Europe to Africa.The Spanish and Moroccan governments appointed a a to investigate the feasibility of linking the two continents...
- Mediterranean SeaMediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...