A sea bridge has been proposed to connect Scotland and Northern Ireland. (Image: Getty)
An insane £335 billion bridge could be built to link the UK and Ireland.
The Irish Sea Bridge, sometimes called the Celtic Crossing, is a hypothetical bridge that would span the Irish Sea and connect to Great Britain.
The length of the bridge would depend upon the route taken. One route, known as the Galloway route, would cross between Portpatrick in south and Larne in Northern Ireland, a distance of 27 miles.
The second of the two routes was the 12-mile Kintyre route, which spanned from the highland peninsula of Kintyre to the northeastern point of County Antrim.
The concept of an Irish Sea Bridge had been proposed since the Era. And by February 2020, British government officials began scoping the possible route and type of crossing.
:
suggested the idea “would be a huge boost to the economies of both countries, opening up trade and putting the otherwise neglected far South West of Scotland in the centre of a major route”.
However, it also stated that massive infrastructure investment would have to be made to upgrade the road and rail connections, especially on the Scottish side.
Commentators have also suggested that such a bridge would have the potential to create a “tourism corridor” between Northern Ireland and Scotland, being a more environmentally friendly option than flying.
A full feasibility study was published in November 2021. It estimated that a bridge would cost £335 billion and a tunnel £209 billion.
[REPORT]
The study said that, although the technology exists to build either, any bridge would be “the longest span bridge built to date,” and the tunnel would be “the longest undersea tunnel ever built”.
Sir Peter Hendy concluded that a connection is not viable at the moment but could become an option in the future.
The Øresund Bridge between Sweden and Denmark has been considered a possible model for the Irish Sea Bridge. However, it was built in waters not over 10 metres deep and is only five miles long.
Particular risks to such a project include the depth of the North Channel and the presence of a large underwater munitions dump in Beaufort’s Dyke. It was suggested that these problems would be mitigated partly by constructing a tunnelled section.