Euroroute

Abstract

Since early in the 18th century, a variety of schemes for a fixed crossing of the 21-mile channel between England and France have been proposed. None has yet been built. The volume of traffic crossing the channel has created a resurgence of interest in the idea: 20 million people and 16 million tons of unitized freight are now carried by the ferries each year. In this paper, the author outlines proposals initiated by him at the British Steel Corporation for a combined road and rail link. The concept draws its inspiration from the crossing at Chesapeake Bay. Bridges would carry the roadways out to manmade islands at the edges of the main shipping lanes. Here the roadways would descend to a submerged tube tunnel laid in a trench, which they would share with the railway that previously crossed the inshore zone by tunnel. Bridge and tunnel sections would be fabricated at coastal sites and floated to the crossing. The offshore islands, embodying North Sea oil platform construction techniques, would also be partly prefabricated. One hundred thousand jobs for five years would be created by this scheme, which is now under consideration by the British and French governments.