Ulster-Scotland tunnel project
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FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
THE Ministry of Transport in London has been approached by the Northern Ireland government to gauge the likely backing For a road tunnel under the North Channel to link Ulster and Scotland. The NI authorities are giving detailed consideration to the idea of such a tunnel; in a lecture in Belfast last week Prof. A. A. Wells, head of the Department of Structural Science at Queen's University, said that research on a tubular undersea tunnel was being financed by the government.
I understand that the problems facing such a project are immensely greater than those involved in the English Channel tunnel. The waters of the Trish North Channel are up to 700 ft. deep (only 180 ft. between England and France), there has been no site survey of the route (Chunnel survey: £2m.) and an expert has suggested to me that the scheme could cost as much as £400m.—although £35m. has been mentioned in some Ulster quarters.
It seems very unlikely that potential traffic could justify even the lower figure being spent.