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£100m tunnel to Orkney 'feasible'
Thu 10 Mar 2005

Scotsman

LESS than ten miles long and costing about £100 million, a tunnel taking drivers under the sea to Orkney is increasingly being seen as a realistic possibility.

The idea took a small but significant step towards reality yesterday when a Norwegian tunnelling expert outlined a vision of a crossing beneath the Pentland Firth connecting the islands to the Scottish mainland.

Councillors from both sides now look likely to investigate whether a 9.3-mile tunnel would be more cost effective than the hour-long ferry service between Orkney and Caithness which is subsidised by the Scottish Executive.

It is estimated that in 20 years it will cost about £50 million to replace the Hamnavoe, the NorthLink Ferries vessel that sails between Stromness and Scrabster.

Captain Bob Sclater, Orkney Islands Council’s transportation chairman, said: "It seems to be the way ahead. It would mean people could come and go whenever they wanted, with no restriction on travel.

"From what we’ve been told, a tunnel from Orkney to the Scottish mainland would be a feasible option."

John Green, who represents north-east Caithness on Highland Council, said: "When you consider that around £11 million a year in subsidy goes into the Pentland Firth route - it wouldn’t take long to recoup that by building a tunnel."

It was thought a sub-sea tunnel linking South Ronaldsay in Orkney to a point close to John o’ Groats, would cost at least £150 million.

But Eivind Grøv, a senior consultant with the Norwegian civil and environmental engineering specialist SINTEF, predicted construction costs of about £6 million a kilometre and a total bill of about £100 million.