The Rogaland Fixed Link, or Rogfast as it is affectionately called, is an undersea tunnel under construction in Norway. When completed in 2033, it will be the longest and deepest undersea tunnel in the world. Norway’s E39 highway runs from Kristiansand in southern Norway to Trondheim in the north.
The journey from the starting to the ending point, which currently takes 21 hours, will be cut in half after the completion of this massive construction project, significantly easing travel among the fjords, which will rely far less on ferries.
Norwegians are no strangers to building undersea tunnels, which connect many of their islands to one another or bring them “closer to the mainland.” Currently, the longest such tunnel is the Ryfylke Tunnel, which, at 292 meters below sea level, is also the deepest tunnel in the world.
The Rogfast tunnel itself is being excavated along the stretch beneath Boknafjorden and Kvitsoyfjorden in Norway’s Rogaland region. It will be 27 kilometers long, and its two tubes, each 10.5 meters wide, will be laid at a depth of 392 meters below sea level, setting a new world record and new benchmarks in road engineering.
It is expected that around six thousand vehicles will pass through the tunnel daily. For the construction of Rogfast, 8.5 million cubic meters of rock will be excavated, and since this is Norway, it will be repurposed for other construction projects and the reclamation of surrounding land.
Using advanced tunneling techniques and solutions that control immense pressure and ensure the structural integrity of the excavated rock, the completed tunnel will also feature a state-of-the-art monitoring system analyzing real-time data, making Rogfast one of the safest tunnels in the world.
The cost of this megaproject is equally colossal, amounting to about 22 billion Norwegian kroner or approximately 2.1 billion euros.
Finances were the reason construction paused after an initial start in 2019. However, work resumed two years later, with the expected completion date shifting from 2026 to 2033.
