en.Wedoany.com Reported - UK infrastructure consultancy Future Works has proposed the "Trans-Pennine Link" plan, which involves building a 22km road tunnel beneath the Peak District while restoring the Woodhead railway line to connect Manchester and Sheffield. The plan aims to remove heavy traffic from the national park and speed up travel between the two cities.
According to the team, this dual-carriageway road tunnel could reduce typical road travel time between the two cities by up to 30 minutes and divert around 20,000 vehicles per day (including a large number of trucks) from national park roads. Future Works cites a government study stating that a fully operational tunnel could generate over £1 billion in annual economic benefits, with regional productivity gains alone reaching £500 million. Project supporters say these economic benefits will be accompanied by environmental improvements from eliminating through traffic and repairing existing road infrastructure.
Historically, cost has been the main obstacle to the Peak District tunnel project. The previous proposal was estimated at £10.6 billion and was rejected due to high costs. Future Works believes this estimate was based on a large tunnel boring machine approach, and the team proposes alternative methods to reduce costs. The team recommends using drill-and-blast techniques commonly employed in Norway and other Scandinavian countries, which rely on smaller construction teams and traditional mining techniques rather than large tunnel boring machines.
Future Works cites international examples, such as Norway's 24.5km Lærdal Tunnel, to show that long tunnels can be built at lower upfront costs. The team notes that current Scandinavian cost levels could bring the Peak District tunnel's cost below £2 billion. The company says technical experts from the UK and Norway agree that the Pennines' geology may be suitable for drill-and-blast construction, with Norway currently building similar projects. Savings could be used to simultaneously restore the Woodhead railway line and build the road tunnel.
The team says tunnel financing could be achieved through local ownership and tolls, which is also common in Scandinavia, or by using private capital such as Northern pension funds. The team adds that a public-private partnership model remains an option. Morgan Sindall construction manager and former British Tunnelling Society (BTS) chairman John Corcoran said he recently visited a drill-and-blast project in Norway and was extremely impressed by the construction efficiency, describing the project as very lean and efficient.
