Tunneling the Bosporus Strait
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 08.23.07 | 11:02 AM ET
We’ve got the Chunnel between England and France. Plans are being drawn for a tunnel between Spain and Morocco. Why not a tunnel beneath the Bosporus Strait, connecting the Asian and European sides of Istanbul? Well, there are good reasons not too, such as the strait’s proximity to the violent North Anatolian Fault. But Turkey has been cautiously moving forward with the Marmaray Project, which according to a terrific story by Julian Smith in Wired, will relieve some of the stress on the two bridges already spanning the Bosporus and also offer new opportunities for world travelers.
He writes:
And when the Marmaray Project is integrated into a planned railway through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, you’ll be able to hop on a train in London, wave at the Hagia Sofia, and step off days later in Beijing.
It’s scheduled to be completed in 2012, two years behind schedule. Part of the holdup: The dig has unearthed Portus Theodosiacus, a port from the fourth century containing, among other things, “the only Byzantine naval vessel ever discovered,” Smith writes.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Significant Steps’ Taken in Quest for Morocco-Spain Tunnel
* Longest Overland Tunnel Opens in Switzerland
Photo of Turkey’s Bosporus Strait by dennis and aimee jonez, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor of World Hum.
