Eysturoy Tunnel
Eysturoyartunnilin
Interesting facts
- With a total road length of about 11.2 km, it ranks as the second-longest undersea road tunnel in the world, after Norway's Ryfast near Stavanger.
- It is the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in the Faroe Islands, with construction costs estimated at around one billion Danish kroner.
- The route from Tórshavn to Runavík and Strendur shrank from about 55 km of road around the fjords to roughly 17 km.
- On its opening day in December 2020, about 14,700 vehicles drove through the tunnel within twelve hours.
- The project was originally called Skálafjarðartunnilin, after the fjord it crosses, and only took its current name in the 2012 national mobility plan.
- An earlier private financing scheme collapsed in 2013 amid a political scandal that forced the Faroese transport minister to resign.
- Drilling teams working from opposite ends of the main branch finally broke through to each other beneath the sea on 7 June 2019.
- The opening, planned for 1 December 2020, slipped by almost three weeks because of technical delays and the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Each tunnel portal is marked by a series of freestanding, illuminated concrete arches designed to act as landmarks.
- Artist Tróndur Patursson had already created light art for the Norðoyatunnilin, the undersea tunnel to Klaksvík opened in 2006.
Why it is worth it
The Eysturoy Tunnel is a piece of infrastructure that became a sight in its own right. Opened on 19 December 2020, it runs for more than 11 km under the Tangafjørður, the sound between the islands of Streymoy and Eysturoy, and also passes under the southern end of Skálafjørður. It is really three tunnels in one: a main bore from Hvítanes near Tórshavn and two branches that come in from either shore of Skálafjørður, meeting beneath the sea at a roundabout about 73 metres below the surface. It is often described as the world's first undersea roundabout.
That roundabout is what people come to see. Around its central column the Faroese artist Tróndur Patursson made an 80-metre installation for this spot, cut-out human silhouettes in metal plates combined with coloured light, so that the cars circle a procession of figures in the rock at the bottom of the fjord. The plates were deliberately left to oxidise and change colour, so the piece is meant to age with the tunnel. Elsewhere the tunnel descends to around 189 metres below sea level, with gradients of up to 5 percent.
The practical effect on island life was large. Before the tunnel, driving from Tórshavn to Runavík and Strendur on the far side of the fjord took over an hour by road around the fjords; now it takes about a quarter of an hour, and the trip to Klaksvík in the northern islands was roughly halved. The tunnel was built by the Scandinavian contractor NCC and is run by a public company owned by the Faroese government, which also operates the Sandoy tunnel to the south. It is a toll road, with charges collected electronically.
Getting there
The main entrance is at Hvítanes, about 7 km north of Tórshavn, the Faroese capital. Vágar Airport (FAE), the islands' only airport, is about 26 km away as the crow flies, on the neighbouring island of Vágar. The tunnel carries road traffic only; the roundabout is best seen by car or from a bus: the frequent tunnel route 450 and the rush-hour express 401 between Tórshavn and Klaksvík both run through it. There is no place to stop inside, so look while you drive.
Plan your visit
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Nearby places
- Sørvágsvatn 23.6 km · lake
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From the encyclopaedia
The Eysturoy Tunnel is a large undersea road tunnel under the Tangafjørður sound in the Faroe Islands, connecting the island of Streymoy to the island of Eysturoy. It also crosses the southern part of Skálafjørður, and connects the towns of Runavík on the eastern side and Strendur on the western side of the fjord, and includes the world's first undersea roundabout in the middle of the network.
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