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two of the most trafficked tunnels in the world.

The Honningsvåg Tunnel (4.443 km (2.76 mi) long) opened in 1999 on


European route E69 in Norway as the world's northernmost road
tunnel, except for mines (which exist on Svalbard).
The Central Artery road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, is a part of
the larger Big Dig completed around 2007, and carries approximately
200,000 vehicles/day under the city along Interstate 93, US Route 1,
and Massachusetts Route 3, which share a concurrency through the
tunnels. The Big Dig replaced Boston's old badly deteriorated I-93
elevated highway. The Gerrards Cross tunnel in
The Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel or SMART Tunnel, is England, completed in 2010.
a combined storm drainage and road structure opened in 2007 in Looking west towards the station in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 9.7 km (6.0 mi) tunnel is the longest March 2005, showing the extent of
stormwater drainage tunnel in South East Asia and second longest in construction three months before a
Asia. The facility can be operated as a simultaneous traffic and small section collapsed.
stormwater passage, or dedicated exclusively to stormwater when
necessary.
The Eiksund Tunnel[67] on national road Rv 653 in Norway is the
world's deepest subsea road tunnel, measuring 7.776 km (4.832 mi)
long, with deepest point at −287 m (−942 ft) below the sea level,
opened in February 2008.
Gerrards Cross railway tunnel, in England, opened in 2010, is notable
in that it converted an existing railway cutting into a tunnel to create
ground to build a supermarket over the tunnel. The railway in the
cutting was first opened around 1906, stretching over 104 years to
complete a railway tunnel. The tunnel was built using the cover The eastern portal of the
method with craned in prefabricated forms in order to keep the busy abandoned Sideling Hill Tunnel,
railway operating. A branch of the Tesco supermarket chain occupies Pennsylvania, U.S., in 2009
the newly created ground above the railway tunnel, with an adjacent
existing railway station at the end of the tunnel. During construction, a
portion of the tunnel collapsed when soil cover was added. The prefabricated forms were covered with a
layer of reinforced concrete after the collapse.[68]
The Fenghuoshan tunnel, completed in 2005 on the Qinghai-Tibet railway is the world's highest railway
tunnel, about 4.905 km (3.05 mi) above sea level and 1,338 m (0.831 mi) long.
The La Linea Tunnel in Colombia, 2016, is the longest, 8.58 km (5.33 mi), mountain tunnel in South
America. It crosses beneath a mountain at 2,500 m (8,202.1 ft) above sea level with six traffic lanes, and
it has a parallel emergency tunnel. The tunnel is subject to serious groundwater pressure. The tunnel will
link Bogotá and its urban area with the coffee-growing region, and with the main port on the Colombian
Pacific coast.
The Chicago Deep Tunnel Project is a network of 175 km (109 mi) of drainage tunnels designed to
reduce flooding in the Chicago area. Started in the mid-1970s, the project is due to be completed in 2029.
New York City Water Tunnel No. 3, started in 1970, has an expected completion beyond 2026,[69] and will
measure more than 97 km long (60 mi).[70]

Mining
The use of tunnels for mining is called drift mining.

Military use
Some tunnels are not for transport at all but rather, are fortifications, for example Mittelwerk and Cheyenne
Mountain Complex. Excavation techniques, as well as the construction of underground bunkers and other
habitable areas, are often associated with military use during armed conflict, or civilian responses to threat of
attack. Another use for tunnels was for the storage of chemical weapons[71][72] [2] (http://www.mustardgas.o
rg/).
Secret tunnels
Secret tunnels have given entrance to or escape from an area, such as the
Cu Chi Tunnels or the smuggling tunnels in the Gaza Strip which connect
it to Egypt. Although the Underground Railroad network used to transport
escaped slaves was "underground" mostly in the sense of secrecy, hidden
tunnels were occasionally used. Secret tunnels were also used during the
Cold War, under the Berlin Wall and elsewhere, to smuggle refugees, and
for espionage.
Tunnel formerly used for coal
Smugglers use secret tunnels to transport or store contraband, such as mining in New Taipei, Taiwan
illegal drugs and weapons. Elaborately engineered 1,000-foot (300 m)
tunnels built to smuggle drugs across the Mexico-US border were
estimated to require up to 9 months to complete, and an expenditure of up to $1
million.[73] Some of these tunnels were equipped with lighting, ventilation,
telephones, drainage pumps, hydraulic elevators, and in at least one instance, an
electrified rail transport system.[73] Secret tunnels have also been used by thieves
to break into bank vaults and retail stores after hours.[74][75] Several tunnels have
been discovered by the Border Security Forces across the Line of Control along
the India-Pakistan border, mainly to allow terrorists access to the Indian territory
of Jammu and Kashmir.[76][77]

The actual usage of erdstall tunnels is unknown but theories connect it to a


rebirth ritual.

Natural tunnels
Door to a compartment
Lava tubes are emptied lava conduits, formed during volcanic eruptions by where runaway slaves
flowing and cooling lava. would sleep, on the
Natural Tunnel State Park (Virginia, US) features an 850-foot (259 m) natural Underground Railroad
tunnel, really a limestone cave, that has been used as a railroad tunnel since
1890.
Punarjani Guha in Kerala, India. Hindus believe that crawling through the
tunnel (which they believe was created by a Hindu god) from one end to the
other will wash away all of one's sins and thus allow one to attain rebirth.
Only men are permitted to crawl through the tunnel.
Torghatten, a Norwegian island with a hat-shaped silhouette, has a natural
tunnel in the middle of the hat, letting light come through. The 160-metre
(520 ft) long, 35-metre (115 ft) high, and 20-metre (66 ft) wide tunnel is said to
be the hole made by an arrow of the angry troll Hestmannen, the hill being
the hat of the troll-king of Sømna trying to save the beautiful Lekamøya. The
tunnel is thought actually to be the work of ice. The sun shines through the
tunnel during two few minutes long periods every year.[78]

Major accidents View through a natural


tunnel in South Korea
Clayton Tunnel rail crash (1861) – confusion about block signals leading to
collision, 23 killed.
Welwyn Tunnel rail crash (1866) – train failed in tunnel, guard did not protect train.
Paris Métro train fire (1904) - train fire in Couronnes underground station, 84 killed by smoke and gases.
Balvano train disaster (1944) - asphyxiation of about 500 "unofficial" passengers on freight train.
Caldecott Tunnel fire (1982) – major motor vehicle tunnel crash and fire.
Channel Tunnel fire (1996)
Princess Diana's death (1997) – Car crash in Pont de l'Alma tunnel, Paris, which killed Princess Diana.
Mont Blanc Tunnel fire (1999)

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