Construction on ‘longest subsea road tunnel’ begins at Jiaozhou Bay

Qingdao Conson Development has begun construction on the second Jiaozhou Bay tunnel in the city of Qingdao in eastern China.

State-owned Qingdao Conson Development claims this is the world's longest subsea road tunnel. The company has spent eight years working on surveys, tunnel ventilation, disaster prevention, super-high water pressure, passage through large-scale fractures and large diameter shield docking in the drill-and-blast method.

The tunnel will begin at Huaihe East Road in West Coast New District, stretching alongside Liugongdao Road and passing under Jiaozhou Bay before arriving at Qingdao Port.

At 15.89 km, it will feature six two-way traffic lanes, making it longer than Norway's Ryfylke Tunnel (14.3 km). The earth and stone excavated are set to top 8mln cubic meters, exceeding Japan's Seikan Tunnel (5.2 million cubic meters) and Europe's Channel Tunnel (4.8 million cubic meters).