CONTENTS

1Terminology

2History

3Geotechnical investigation and design

o

3.1Choice of tunnels vs. bridges

3.2Project planning and cost estimates

4Construction

4.1Cut-and-cover

4.2Boring machines

4.3Clay-kicking

4.4Shafts

4.5Sprayed concrete techniques

4.6Pipe jacking

4.7Box jacking

4.8Underwater tunnels

4.9Temporary way

4.10Enlargement

4.11Open building pit

4.12Other construction methods

5Variant tunnel types

5.1Double-deck and multipurpose tunnels

5.2Covered passageways

6Safety and security

7Examples of tunnels

7.1In history

7.2Longest

7.3Notable
8Mining

9Military use

10Secret tunnels

11Natural tunnels

12Major accidents

13See also

14References

15Bibliography

16External links

TUNNEL
This article is about underground passages. For other uses, see Tunnel
(disambiguation).
"Underpass" redirects here. For the John Foxx song, see Underpass (song). For a
tunnel for pedestrians, see Pedestrian underpass.

Decorated entrance to a road tunnel in Guanajuato, Mexico

Utility

tunnel for

heating

in Copenhagen,Denmark

pipes

between Rigshospitalet and

Amagervrket

Tunnel on the Taipei Metro in Taiwan

Southern portal of the 421 m long (1,381 ft) Chirk canal tunnel
A tunnel is an underground or underwater passageway, dug through the surrounding
soil/earth/rock and enclosed except for entrance and exit, commonly at each end.
A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed
tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods.
A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. The
central portions of a rapid transit network are usually in tunnel. Some tunnels

are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectricstations or

are sewers. Utility tunnels are used for routing steam, chilled water, electrical power
or telecommunication cables, as well as connecting buildings for convenient
passage of people and equipment. Secret tunnels are built for military purposes, or
by civilians for smuggling of weapons, contraband, or people. Special tunnels, such
as wildlife crossings, are built to allow wildlife to cross human-made barriers
safely.

Terminology
A tunnel is relatively long and narrow; the length is often much greater than twice
the diameter, although similar shorter excavations can be constructed, such as cross
passages between tunnels.
The definition of what constitutes a tunnel can vary widely from source to source.
For example, the definition of a road tunnel in the United Kingdom is defined as "a
subsurface highway structure enclosed for a length of 150 metres (490 ft) or
more."[1] In the United States, the NFPA definition of a tunnel is "An underground
structure with a design length greater than 23 m (75 ft) and a diameter greater than
1,800 millimetres (5.9 ft).
In the UK, a pedestrian, cycle or animal tunnel beneath a road or railway is called
a subway, while an underground railway system is differently named in different
cities, the "Underground" or the "Tube" in London, the "Subway" in Glasgow, and
the "Metro" in Newcastle. The place where a road, railway, canal or watercourse
passes under a footpath, cycleway, or another road or railway is most commonly
called a bridge or, if passing under a canal, an aqueduct. Where it is important to
stress that it is passing underneath, it may be called an underpass, though the
official term when passing under a railway is an underbridge. A longer underpass
containing a road, canal or railway is normally called a "tunnel", whether or not it
passes under another item of infrastructure. An underpass of any length under a
river is also usually called a "tunnel", whatever mode of transport it is for.
In the US, the term "subway" means an underground rapid transit system, and the
term pedestrian underpass is used for a passage beneath a barrier. Rail station
platforms may be connected by pedestrian tunnels or footbridges.

History
This section needs expansion.You can
help by adding to it. (March 2013)

Joralemon Street Tunnel in 1913, part of the New York City Subwaysystem
Much of the early technology of tunneling evolved from mining and military
engineering. The etymology of the terms "mining" (for mineral extraction or
for siege attacks), "military engineering", and "civil engineering" reveals these deep
historic connections.
Geotechnical investigation and design
Other key geotechnical factors:

"Stand-up time" is the amount of time a newly excavated cavity can support
itself without any added structures. Knowing this parameter allows the engineers
to determine how far an excavation can proceed before support is needed, which
in turn affects the speed, efficiency, and cost of construction. Generally, certain
configurations of rock and clay will have the greatest stand-up time, while sand
and fine soils will have a much lower stand-up time.[3]

Groundwater control is very important in tunnel construction. Water leaking

into a tunnel or vertical shaft will greatly decrease stand-up time, causing the
excavation to become unstable and risking collapse. The most common way to
control groundwater is to install dewatering pipes into the ground and to simply
pump the water out.[4] A very effective but expensive technology is ground

freezing, using pipes which are inserted into the ground surrounding the
excavation, which are then cooled with special refrigerant fluids. This freezes
the ground around each pipe until the whole space is surrounded with frozen
soil, keeping water out until a permanent structure can be built.

Tunnel cross-sectional shape is also very important in determining stand-up

time. If a tunnel excavation is wider than it is high, it will have a harder time
supporting itself, decreasing its stand-up time. A square or rectangular
excavation is more difficult to make self-supporting, because of a concentration
of stress at the corners.

Choice of tunnels vs. bridges

The Harbor Tunnel in Baltimore, which carries I-95, serves as an example of a

water-crossing tunnel built instead of a bridge.
For water crossings, a tunnel is generally more costly to construct than a bridge.
However, navigational considerations may limit the use of high bridges
or drawbridge spans intersecting with shipping channels, necessitating a tunnel.
Bridges usually require a larger footprint on each shore than tunnels. In areas with
expensive real estate, such as Manhattan and urban Hong Kong, this is a strong
factor in favor of a tunnel. Boston's Big Dig project replaced elevated roadways
with a tunnel system to increase traffic capacity, hide traffic, reclaim land,
redecorate, and reunite the city with the waterfront.
The 1934 Queensway Tunnel under the River Mersey at Liverpool was chosen over
a massively high bridge for defense reasons; it was feared that aircraft could destroy
a bridge in times of war. Maintenance costs of a massive bridge to allow the world's
largest ships to navigate under were considered higher than for a tunnel. Similar
conclusions were reached for the 1971 Kingsway Tunnel under the Mersey.
In Hampton Roads, Virginia, tunnels were chosen over bridges for strategic
considerations; in the event of damage, bridges would prevent US Navy vessels
from leaving Naval Station Norfolk.
Water-crossing

tunnels

built

instead

of

bridges

include

the Holland

Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan in New York City;

the Queens-Midtown

Tunnel between

the borough of Queenson Long

Island;

Tunnel between Michigan and Ontario;

and

Manhattan

and

the Detroit-Windsor
the Elizabeth

River tunnels

between Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia; the 1934 River Mersey road Queensway
Tunnel; the Western Scheldt Tunnel, Zeeland, Netherlands; and the North Shore
Connector tunnel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Other reasons for choosing a tunnel instead of a bridge include avoiding difficulties
with tides, weather, and shipping during construction (as in the 51.5-kilometre or
32.0-mile Channel Tunnel), aesthetic reasons (preserving the above-ground view,
landscape, and scenery), and also for weight capacity reasons (it may be more
feasible to build a tunnel than a sufficiently strong bridge). Some water crossings
are a mixture of bridges and tunnels, such as the Denmark to Sweden link and
the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia. There are particular hazards with
tunnels, especially from vehicle fires when combustion gases can asphyxiate users,
as happened at the Gotthard Road Tunnel in Switzerland in 2001. One of the worst
railway disasters ever, the Balvano train disaster, was caused by a train stalling in
the Armi tunnel in Italy in 1944, killing 426 passengers. Designers try to reduce
these risks by installing emergency ventilation systems or isolated emergency
escape tunnels parallel to the main passage. Project planning and cost estimates
Government funds are often required for the creation of tunnels. [6] When a tunnel is
being planned or constructed, economics and politics play a large factor in the
decision

making

process.

Civil

engineers

usually

use project

management techniques for developing a major structure. Understanding the

amount of time the project requires, and the amount of labor and materials needed is
a crucial part of project planning. The project duration must be identified using
a work breakdown structure (WBS) and critical path method(CPM). Also, the land
needed for excavation and construction staging, and the proper machinery must be
selected. Large infrastructure projects require millions or even billions of dollars,
involving long-term financing, usually through issuance of bonds.

The costs and benefits for an infrastructure such as a tunnel must be identified.
Political disputes can occur, as in 2005 when the US House of Representatives
approved a $100 million federal grant to build a tunnel under New York Harbor.
However, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was not aware of this bill
and had not asked for a grant for such a project. Increased taxes to finance a large
project may cause opposition.

CONSTRUCTION
Tunnels are dug in types of materials varying from soft clay to hard rock. The
method of tunnel construction depends on such factors as the ground conditions, the
ground water conditions, the length and diameter of the tunnel drive, the depth of
the tunnel, the logistics of supporting the tunnel excavation, the final use and shape
of the tunnel and appropriate risk management.
There are three basic types of tunnel construction in common use:

Cut-and-cover tunnel, constructed in a shallow trench and then covered over.

Bored tunnel, constructed in situ, without removing the ground above. They
are usually of circular or horseshoe cross-section.

Immersed tube tunnel, sunk into a body of water and laid on or buried just
under its bed.

Cut-and-cover

Cut-and-cover construction of theParis Mtro in France

Cut-and-cover is a simple method of construction for shallow tunnels where
a trench is excavated and roofed over with an overhead support system strong
enough to carry the load of what is to be built above the tunnel. Two basic forms of
cut-and-cover tunnelling are available:

Bottom-up method: A trench is excavated, with ground support as necessary,

and the tunnel is constructed in it. The tunnel may be of in situ concrete, precast
concrete, precast arches, or corrugated steel arches; in early days brickwork was
used. The trench is then carefully back-filled and the surface is reinstated.

Top-down method: Side support walls and capping beams are constructed
from ground level by such methods as slurry walling or contiguous bored piling.
Then a shallow excavation allows making the tunnel roof of precast beams or in
situ concrete. The surface is then reinstated except for access openings. This
allows early reinstatement of roadways, services and other surface features.
Excavation then takes place under the permanent tunnel roof, and the base slab
is constructed.

Shallow tunnels are often of the cut-and-cover type (if under water, of the
immersed-tube type), while deep tunnels are excavated, often using a tunnelling
shield. For intermediate levels, both methods are possible.
Large cut-and-cover boxes are often used for underground metro stations, such
as Canary Wharf tube station in London. This construction form generally has two
levels, which allows economical arrangements for ticket hall, station platforms,
passenger access and emergency egress, ventilation and smoke control, staff rooms,
and equipment rooms. The interior of Canary Wharf station has been likened to an
underground cathedral, owing to the sheer size of the excavation. This contrasts
with many traditional stations on London Underground, where bored tunnels were
used for stations and passenger access. Nevertheless, the original parts of the
London Underground network, the Metropolitan and District Railways, were
constructed using cut-and-cover. These lines pre-dated electric traction and the
proximity to the surface was useful to ventilate the inevitable smoke and steam.
A major disadvantage of cut-and-cover is the widespread disruption generated at the
surface level during construction. This, and the availability of electric traction,
brought about London Underground's switch to bored tunnels at a deeper level
towards the end of the 19th century.

BORING MACHINES
Main article: Tunnel boring machine

A workman is dwarfed by the tunnel boring machine used to excavate theGotthard

Base Tunnel (Switzerland), the world's longest.
Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and associated back-up systems are used to highly
automate the entire tunnelling process, reducing tunnelling costs. In certain
predominantly urban applications, tunnel boring is viewed as quick and cost
effective alternative to laying surface rails and roads. Expensive compulsory
purchase of buildings and land, with potentially lengthy planning inquiries, is
eliminated. Disadvantages of TBMs arise from their usually large size - the
difficulty of transporting the large TBM to the site of tunnel construction, or
(alternatively) the high cost of assembling the TBM on-site, often within the
confines of the tunnel being constructed. There are a variety of TBM designs that
can operate in a variety of conditions, from hard rock to soft water-bearing ground.
Some types of TBMs, the bentonite slurry and earth-pressure balance machines,
have pressurised compartments at the front end, allowing them to be used in
difficult conditions below the water table. This pressurizes the ground ahead of the
TBM cutter head to balance the water pressure. The operators work in normal air
pressure behind the pressurised compartment, but may occasionally have to enter
that compartment to renew or repair the cutters. This requires special precautions,
such as local ground treatment or halting the TBM at a position free from water.

Despite these difficulties, TBMs are now preferred over the older method of
tunnelling in compressed air, with an air lock/decompression chamber some way
back from the TBM, which required operators to work in high pressure and go
through decompression procedures at the end of their shifts, much like deep-sea
divers. In February 2010, Aker Wirth delivered a TBM to Switzerland, for the
expansion of the LinthLimmern Power Stations located south of Linthal in
the canton of Glarus. The borehole has a diameter of 8.03 metres (26.3 ft).[9] The
four TBMs used for excavating the 57-kilometre (35 mi) Gotthard Base Tunnel,
in Switzerland, had a diameter of about 9 metres (30 ft). A larger TBM was built to
bore the Green Heart Tunnel (Dutch: Tunnel Groene Hart) as part of the HSLZuid in the Netherlands, with a diameter of 14.87 metres (48.8 ft).[10] This in turn
was superseded by the Madrid M30 ringroad, Spain, and the Chong Ming tunnels
in Shanghai, China. All

of

these

machines

were

built

at

least

partly

by Herrenknecht. As of August 2013, the world's largest TBM is "Big Bertha", a

57.5-foot (17.5 m) diameter machine built by Hitachi Zosen Corporation, which is
digging the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnelin Seattle, Washington (US).
Clay-kicking
Clay-kicking is a specialised method developed in the United Kingdom of digging
tunnels in strong clay-based soil structures. Unlike previous manual methods of
using mattocks which relied on the soil structure to be hard, clay-kicking was
relatively silent and hence did not harm soft clay based structures. The clay-kicker
lies on a plank at a 45-degree angle away from the working face and inserts a tool
with a cup-like rounded end with the feet. Turning the tool manually, the kicker
extracts a section of soil, which is then placed on the waste extract. Used
in Victorian civil engineering, the method found favour in the renewal of Britain's
ancient sewerage systems, by not having to remove all property or infrastructure to
create a small tunnel system. During the First World War, the system was used
by Royal Engineer tunnelling companies to put mines beneath the German
Empire lines. The method was virtually silent and so not susceptible to listening
methods of detection.

SHAFTS

1886 illustration showing the ventilation and drainage system of the Mersey railway
tunnel
A temporary access shaft is sometimes necessary during the excavation of a tunnel.
They are usually circular and go straight down until they reach the level at which
the tunnel is going to be built. A shaft normally has concrete walls and is usually
built to be permanent. Once the access shafts are complete, TBMs are lowered to
the bottom and excavation can start. Shafts are the main entrance in and out of the
tunnel until the project is completed. If a tunnel is going to be long, multiple shafts
at various locations may be bored so that entrance to the tunnel is closer to the
unexcavated area.[5]
Once construction is complete, construction access shafts are often used
as ventilation shafts, and may also be used as emergency exits.
Sprayed concrete techniques[edit]
The New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) was developed in the 1960s and is
the best known of a number of engineering practices that use calculated and
empirical measurements to provide safe support to the tunnel lining. The main idea
of this method is to use the geological stress of the surrounding rock mass to
stabilize the tunnel, by allowing a measured relaxation and stress reassignment into
the surrounding rock to prevent full loads becoming imposed on the supports. Based
on geotechnical measurements,

an

optimal cross

section is

computed.

The

excavation is protected by a layer of sprayed concrete, commonly referred to

as shotcrete. Other support measures can include steel arches, rockbolts and mesh.
Technological developments in sprayed concrete technology have resulted in steel
and polypropylene fibres being added to the concrete mix to improve lining
strength. This creates a natural load-bearing ring, which minimizes the
rock's deformation.

Illowra Battery utility tunnel, Port Kembla. One of many bunkers south of Sydney.
By special monitoring the NATM method is flexible, even at surprising changes of
the geomechanical rock consistency during the tunneling work. The measured rock
properties lead to appropriate tools for tunnel strengthening. In the last decades also
soft ground excavations up to 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) became usual.
Pipe jacking
Main article: Pipe jacking
In pipe jacking, hydraulic jacks are used to push specially-made pipes through the
ground behind a TBM or shield. This method is commonly used to create tunnels
under existing structures, such as roads or railways. Tunnels constructed by pipe
jacking are normally small diameter bores with a maximum size of around 3.2
metres (10 ft).
Box jacking
Box jacking is similar to pipe jacking, but instead of jacking tubes, a box-shaped
tunnel is used. Jacked boxes can be a much larger span than a pipe jack, with the
span of some box jacks in excess of 20 metres (66 ft). A cutting head is normally

used at the front of the box being jacked, and spoil removal is normally by
excavator from within the box.
Underwater tunnels

Shark tunnel at the Georgia Aquarium

Main article: Undersea tunnel
There are also several approaches to underwater tunnels, the two most common
being

bored

tunnels

or immersed

tubes,

examples

are Bjrvika

Tunnel and Marmaray. Submerged floating tunnels are a novel approach under
consideration; however, no such tunnels have been constructed to date.
Temporary way[edit]
During construction of a tunnel it is often convenient to install a temporary railway,
particularly to remove excavated spoil, often narrow gauge so that it can be double
track to allow the operation of empty and loaded trains at the same time. The
temporary way is replaced by the permanent way at completion, thus explaining the
term "Perway".

Enlargement

A utility tunnel in Prague

The vehicles or traffic using a tunnel can outgrow it, requiring replacement or
enlargement:

The original single line Gib Tunnel near Mittagong was replaced with a
double-track tunnel, with the original tunnel used for growing mushrooms. [citation
needed]

The 1832 double-track mile-long tunnel from Edge Hill to Lime Street in
Liverpool was near totally removed, apart from a 50-metre section at Edge Hill
and a section nearer to Lime Street, as four tracks were required. The tunnel was
dug out into a very deep four-track cutting, with short tunnels in places along the
cutting. Train services were not interrupted as the work progressed. [13][14] There
are other occurrences of tunnels being replaced by open cuts, for example,
the Auburn Tunnel.

The Farnworth Tunnel in England was enlarged using a tunnel boring

machine (TBM) in 2015.[15] The Rhyndaston Tunnel was enlarged using a
borrowed TBM so as to be able to take ISO containers.

Tunnels can also be enlarged by lowering the floor.[citation needed]

Open building pit

An open building pit consists of a horizontal and a vertical boundary that keeps
groundwater and soil out of the pit. There are several potential alternatives and
combinations for (horizontal and vertical) building pit boundaries. The most
important difference with cut-and-cover is that the open building pit is muted after
tunnel construction; no roof is placed.
Other construction methods

Drilling and blasting

Hydraulic splitter

Slurry-shield machine

Wall-cover construction method.

Variant tunnel types

Double-deck and multipurpose tunnels

The upper level traffic lanes throughYerba Buena Island, part of the San Francisco
Oakland Bay Bridge
Some tunnels are double-deck, for example the two major segments of the San
FranciscoOakland Bay Bridge (completed in 1936) are linked by a double-deck
tunnel through Yerba Buena Island, the largest-diameter bored tunnel in the world.
[16]

At construction this was a combination bidirectional rail and truck pathway on

the lower deck with automobiles above, now converted to one-way road vehicle
traffic on each deck.
In the Netherlands, a two-stack road tunnel is being constructed in the city
of Maastricht. The two lower tubes of the tunnel will carry the A2 motorway, which
originates in Amsterdam, through the city, and the two upper tubes will take the N2

regional highway for local traffic.[17] In the UK, the 1934 Queensway Tunnel under
the River Mersey between Liverpool and Birkenhead was originally to have road
vehicles running on the upper deck and trams on the lower. During construction the
tram usage was cancelled. The lower section is only used for cables, pipes and
emergency accident refuge enclosures.
In Hong Kong, the Lion Rock Tunnel, built in the mid 1960s connecting New
Kowloon and Sha Tin, carries a motorway and an aqueduct.
A recent double-deck tunnel with both decks for motor vehicles is the Fuxing Road
Tunnel in Shanghai, China. Cars travel on the two-lane upper deck, and heavier
vehicles on the single-lane lower level.
Multipurpose tunnels exist that have more than one purpose. The SMART
Tunnel in Malaysia is the first multipurpose flood control tunnel in the world, used
both to convey traffic and occasional flood waters in Kuala Lumpur.
Common utility ducts or utility tunnels are carry two or more utility lines. Through
co-location of different utilities in one tunnel, organizations are able to reduce the
costs of building and maintaining utilities.

COVERED PASSAGEWAYS

The 19th century Dark Gatein Esztergom, Hungary

Over-bridges can sometimes be built by covering a road or river or railway with
brick or steel arches, and then leveling the surface with earth. In railway parlance, a
surface-level track which has been built or covered over is normally called a
"covered way".
Snow sheds are a kind of artificial tunnel built to protect a railway
from avalanches of snow. Similarly the Stanwell Park, New South Wales "steel
tunnel", on the South Coast Line, protects the line from rockfalls.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

Owing to the enclosed space of a tunnel, fires can have very serious effects on
users. The main dangers are gas and smoke production, with even low
concentrations of carbon monoxide being highly toxic. Fires killed 11 people in
theGotthard tunnel fire of 2001 for example, all of the victims succumbing to
smoke and gas inhalation. Over 400 passengers died in the Balvano train disaster in
Italy in 1944, when the locomotive halted in a long tunnel. Carbon monoxide
poisoning was the main cause of death. In the Caldecott Tunnel fire of 1982, the
majority of fatalities were caused by toxic smoke, rather than by the initial crash.
Motor vehicle tunnels usually require ventilation shafts and powered fans to remove
toxic exhaust gases during routine operation.[18]
Rail tunnels usually require fewer air changes per hour, but still may require forcedair ventilation. Both types of tunnels often have provisions to increase ventilation
under emergency conditions, such as a fire. Although there is a risk of increasing
the rate of combustion through increased airflow, the primary focus is on providing
breathable air to persons trapped in the tunnel, as well as firefighters.
When there is a parallel, separate tunnel available, airtight but unlocked emergency
doors are usually provided which allow trapped personnel to escape from a smokefilled tunnel to the parallel tube.[19]
Larger, heavily-used tunnels, such as the Big Dig tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts,
may have a dedicated 24-hour manned operations center which monitors and
reports

on

traffic

conditions,

and

responds

to

emergencies. [20] Video

surveillance equipment is often used, and real-time pictures of traffic conditions for
some highways may be viewable by the general public via the Internet.
See also: History of rapid transit

The three eastern portals of Liverpool Edge Hill tunnels, built into a hand dug deep
cutting. The left tunnel with tracks is the short 1846 second Crown Street Tunnel,
still used for shunting; next on the right partially hidden by undergrowth is the
2.03 km (1.26 mi) 1829 disused Wapping Tunnel, to the right again hidden by
undergrowth, is the original short disused 1829 Crown Street Tunnel.

A short section remains of the 1832 Edge Hill to Lime Street tunnel inLiverpool.
This and a short section of the original tunnel nearer to Lime Street, are the oldest
rail tunnels in the world still in active use.

The 1,659-foot (506 m)Donner Pass Summit Tunnel (#6) was in service from 1868
to 1993.

Southern portal of the 1791 Dudley canal tunnel in England

Liverpool Lime Street Approach. The original two track tunnel was removed to
create a deep cutting. Some of the road bridges seen across the cutting are solid
rock and in effect are a series of short tunnels.

A late 19th-century pneumatic rock-drilling machine, invented by Germain

Sommeiller and used to drill the first large tunnels through the Alps.

Small operational brick tunnel in France

The history of ancient tunnels and tunneling in the world is reviewed in various
sources which include many examples of these structures that were built for
different purposes.[21][22] Some well known ancient and modern tunnels are briefly
introduced below:

The qanat or kareez of Persia are water management systems used to provide
a reliable supply of water to human settlements or for irrigation in hot, arid and
semi-arid climates. The deepest known qanat is in the Iranian city of Gonabad,
which after 2700 years, still provides drinking and agricultural water to nearly

40,000 people. Its main well depth is more than 360 m (1,180 ft), and its length
is 45 km (28 mi).

The Siloam Tunnel was built before 701 BCE for a reliable supply of water,
to withstand siege attacks.

The Eupalinian aqueduct on the island of Samos (North Aegean, Greece) was
built in 520 BCE by the ancient Greek engineer Eupalinos of Megara under a
contract with the local community. Eupalinos organised the work so that the
tunnel was begun from both sides of Mount Kastro. The two teams advanced
simultaneously and met in the middle with excellent accuracy, something that
was extremely difficult in that time. The aqueduct was of utmost defensive
importance, since it ran underground, and it was not easily found by an enemy
who could otherwise cut off the water supply to Pythagoreion, the ancient
capital of Samos. The tunnel's existence was recorded by Herodotus (as was the
mole and harbour, and the third wonder of the island, the great temple to Hera,
thought by many to be the largest in the Greek world). The precise location of
the tunnel was only re-established in the 19th century by German archaeologists.
The tunnel proper is 1,030 m long (3,380 ft) and visitors can still enter
it Eupalinos tunnel.

One of the first known drainage and sewage networks in form of tunnels was
constructed at Persepolis in Iran at the same time as the construction of its
foundation in 518 BCE. In most places the network was dug in the sound rock
of the mountain and then covered by large pieces of rock and stone followed by
earth and rubbles to level the ground. During investigations and surveys, long
sections of similar rock tunnels extending beneath the palace area were traced
by Herzfeld and later by Schmidt and their archeological teams.

The Via Flaminia, an important Roman road, penetrated the Furlo pass in
the Apennines through a tunnel which emperor Vespasian had ordered built in
76-77 CE. A modern road, the SS 3 Flaminia, still uses this tunnel, which had a
precursor dating back to the 3rd century BCE; remnants of this earlier tunnel
(one of the first road tunnels) are also still visible.

The world's oldest underwater tunnel is claimed [25] to be the Terelek kaya
tneli under Kzl

River,

of Boyabat and Duraan in Turkey,

little
just

south

of

downstream

the

from

towns

where Kizil

River joins its tributaryGkrmak. The tunnel is presently under a narrow part of
a lake formed by a dam some kilometers further downstream. Estimated to have
been built more than 2000 years ago, possibly by the same civilization that also
built the royal tombs in a rock face nearby, it is assumed to have had a defensive
purpose.

Sapperton Canal Tunnel on the Thames and Severn Canal in England, dug
through hills, which opened in 1789, was 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long and
allowed boat transport of coal and other goods. Above it the Sapperton Long
Tunnel was constructed which carries the "Golden Valley" railway line
between Swindon and Gloucester.

The 1791 Dudley canal tunnel is on the Dudley Canal, in Dudley, England.
The tunnel is 1.83 miles (2.9 km) long. Closed in 1962 the tunnel was reopened
in 1973. The series of tunnels was extended in 1984 and 1989.[26]

Fritchley Tunnel, constructed in 1793 in Derbyshire by the Butterley

Company to transport limestone to its ironworks factory. The Butterley company
engineered and built its own railway a victim of the depression the company
closed after 219 years in 2009. The tunnel is the world's oldest railway tunnel
traversed by rail wagons using gravity and horse haulage. The railway was
converted

to

steam

locomotion

in

1813

using

a Steam

Horse

locomotive engineered and built by the Butterley company, however reverted to

horses. Steam trains used the tunnel continuously from the 1840s when the
railway was converted to a narrow gauge. The line closed in 1933. In the Second
World War, the tunnel was used as an air raid shelter. Sealed up in 1977 it was
rediscovered in 2013 and inspected. The tunnel was resealed to preserved the
construction as it was designated an ancient monument.[27][28][28][29][29]

The 1794 Butterley canal tunnel canal tunnel is 3,083 yards (2,819m) in
length on the Cromford Canal in Ripley, Derbyshire, England. The tunnel was

built simultaneously with the 1773 Fritchley railway tunnel. The tunnel partially
collapsed in 1900 splitting the Cromford Canal, and has not been used since.
The Friends of Cromford Canal, a group of volunteers, are working at fully
restoring the Cromford Canal and the Butterley Tunnel

Longest
Main article: List of tunnels by length

The Thirlmere

Aqueduct in North

West

England, United

Kingdom is

sometimes considered the longest tunnel, of any type, in the world at 154 km
(96 mi), though the aqueduct's tunnel section is not continuous.[dubious discuss]

The Gotthard Base Tunnel is the longest rail tunnel in the world at 57 km
(35 mi) and carries trains under the Swiss Alps. It was completed in 2016.

The Seikan Tunnel in Japan is 53.9 km (33.5 mi), of which 23.3 km (14.5 mi)
is under the sea.

The Channel

Tunnel between France and

the United

Kingdom under

the English Channel has a total length of 50 km (31 mi), of which 39 km (24 mi)
is under the sea. The tunnel is the longest in the world under a stretch of water.

The Ltschberg Base Tunnel opened in June 2007 in Switzerland was the
longest land rail tunnel, with a total of 34.5 km (21.4 mi).

The Lrdal Tunnel in Norway from Lrdal to Aurland is the world's longest
road tunnel, intended for cars and similar vehicles, at 24.5 km (15.2 mi).

The Zhongnanshan Tunnel in People's Republic of China opened in January

2007 is the world's second longest highway tunnel and the longest mountain
road tunnel in Asia, at 18 km (11 mi).

The longest canal tunnel is the Rove Tunnel in France, over 7.12 km
(4.42 mi) long.

Notable

The Big Dig road vehicle tunnel inBoston, USA

The Gerrards Cross tunnel in England, completed in 2010. View west towards the
station in March 2005, showing the extent of construction three months before a
small section collapsed

The eastern portal of the abandoned Sideling Hill Tunnel, Pennsylvania, USA in
2009

Williamson's tunnels in Liverpool, from 1804 and completed around 1840 by

a wealthy eccentric, are probably the largest underground folly in the world. The
tunnels were built with no functional purpose.

Moffat Tunnel, opened in 1928 in Colorado, straddles the Continental Divide.

The tunnel is 10.0 km (6.2 mi) long and at 2,816 m (9,239 ft) above sea level is
the highest active railroad tunnel in the US (the Tennessee Pass Line, currently
inactive, and Alpine Tunnel are higher).

The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940 with seven tunnels, most of

which were bored as part of the stillborn South Pennsylvania Railroad and
giving the highway the nickname "Tunnel Highway". Four of the tunnels
(Allegheny Mountain, Tuscarora Mountain, Kittatinny Mountain, and Blue
Mountain) remain in active use, while the other three (Laurel Hill, Rays Hill,
and Sideling Hill) were bypassed in the 1960s; the latter two tunnels are on a
bypassed section of the Turnpike now commonly known as the Abandoned
Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The Fredhlls road tunnel was opened in 1966, in Stockholm, Sweden, and
the New Elbe road tunnel opened in 1975 in Hamburg, Germany. Both tunnels
handle around 150,000 vehicles a day, making them two of the most trafficked
tunnels in the world.

The Honningsvg Tunnel (4.443 km (2.76 mi) long) opened in 1999

on European route E69 in Norway as the world's northernmost road tunnel,
except for mines (which exist on Svalbard).

The Central Artery road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, is a part of the

larger Big Dig completed around 2007, and carries approximately 200,000
vehicles/day under the city along Interstate 93, US Route 1, andMassachusetts
Route 3, which share a concurrency through the tunnels. The Big Dig replaced
Boston's old badly deteriorated I-93 elevated highway.

The Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel or SMART Tunnel, is a

combined storm drainage and road structure opened in 2007 in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. The 9.7 km (6.0 mi) tunnel is the longest stormwater tunnel

in South East Asia and second longest in Asia. The facility can be operated as a
simultaneous traffic and stormwater passage, or dedicated exclusively to
stormwater when necessary.

The Eiksund Tunnel[42] on national road Rv 653 in Norway is the world's

deepest subsea road tunnel, measuring 7.776 km (4.832 mi) long, with deepest
point at 287 m (942 ft) below the sea level, opened in February 2008.

Gerrards Cross railway tunnel, in England, opened in 2010, is notable in that

it was built in a railway cutting, that was first opened around 1906. This
arguably is the longest ever tunnel in construction taking 104 years.
[dubious discuss]

The tunnel was built using the cut-and-cover method with

prefabricated forms in order to keep the busy railway operating. A branch of

the Tesco supermarket chain occupies the space above the railway tunnel with
an adjacent railway station. During construction, a portion of the tunnel
collapsed when the soil cover was added. The prefabricated forms were covered
with a layer of reinforced concrete after the collapse.[43]

The Fenghuoshan tunnel (date of completion unknown) on Qinghai-Tibet

railway is the world's highest railway tunnel, about 4.905 km (3.05 mi) above
sea level.

The La Linea Tunnel in Colombia, will be (2016) the longest, 8.58 km

(5.33 mi), mountain tunnel in South America. It crosses beneath a mountain at
2,500 m (8,202.1 ft) above sea level with six traffic lanes, and it has a parallel
emergency tunnel. The tunnel is subject to serious groundwater pressure. The
tunnel will link Bogot and its urban area with the coffee-growing region, and
with the main port on the Colombian Pacific coast.

The Chicago Deep Tunnel Project is a network of 175 km (109 mi) of tunnels
designed to reduce flooding in the Chicago area. Started in the mid-1970s, the
project is due to be completed in 2019.

New York City Water Tunnel No. 3, started in 1970, has an expected
completion date of 2020, and will measure more than 97 km long (60 mi).[44]

MINING
Main article: Mining

Tunnel formerly used for coal mining in New Taipei, Taiwan

The use of tunnels for mining is called drift mining.
Military use
See also: Sapper
Some tunnels are not for transport at all but rather, are fortifications, for
example Mittelwerk and Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Excavation techniques, as
well as the construction of underground bunkers and other habitable areas, are often
associated with military use during armed conflict, or civilian responses to threat of
attack. One of the strangest uses of a tunnel was for the storage of chemical
weapons[45][46]
Secret tunnels
Main articles: Secret passage and Smuggling tunnel

Door to a compartment where runaway slaves would sleep, on the Underground

Railroad
Secret tunnels have given entrance to or escape from an area, such as the Cu Chi
Tunnels or the smuggling tunnels in the Gaza Strip which connect it to Egypt.
Although the Underground Railroad network used to transport escaped slaves was
"underground" mostly in the sense of secrecy, hidden tunnels were occasionally
used. Secret tunnels were also used during the Cold War, under the Berlin Wall and
elsewhere, to smuggle refugees, and forespionage.
Smugglers use secret tunnels to transport or store contraband, such as illegal
drugs and weapons. Elaborately engineered 1,000-foot (300 m) tunnels built to
smuggle drugs across the Mexico-US border were estimated to require up to 9
months to complete, and an expenditure of up to $1 million. [47] Some of these
tunnels were equipped with lighting, ventilation, telephones, drainage pumps,
hydraulic elevators, and in at least one instance, an electrified rail transport system.
[47]

Secret tunnels have also been used by thieves to break into bank vaults and retail

stores after hours.[48][49]

The actual usage of erdstall tunnels is unknown but theories connect it to a rebirth
ritual.

NATURAL TUNNELS

View through a natural tunnel in South Korea

Lava tubes are partially empty, cave-like conduits underground, formed

during volcanic eruptions by flowing and cooling lava.

Natural Tunnel State Park (Virginia, US) features an 850-foot (259 m) natural
tunnel, really a limestone cave, that has been used as a railroad tunnel since
1890.

Punarjani Guha in Kerala, India. Hindus believe that crawling through the
tunnel (which they believe was created by a Hindu god) from one end to the
other will wash away all of ones sins and thus allow one to attain rebirth. Only
men are permitted to crawl through the tunnel.

Torghatten, a Norwegian island with a hat-shaped silhouette, has a tunnel in

the middle of the hat, letting light come through. The 160-metre (520 ft) long,
35-metre (115 ft) wide, and 20-metre (66 ft) high tunnel is said to be the hole
made by an arrow of the troll Hestmannen, the hill being the hat of the troll-king

of Smna trying to save the beautiful Lekamya. The tunnel is thought actually
to be the work of ice. The sun shines through the tunnel during two short periods
every year.[50]

Small "snow tunnels" are created by voles, chipmunks and other rodents for
protection and access to food sources. For more information regarding tunnels
built by animals, see Burrow.