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The entrance to the Eurasia Tunnel

Construction is complete on a massive underwater tunnel linking Europe and Asia that was built with the advanced technology of the South Korean construction industry. The Eurasia Tunnel, as it is called, was dug under the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey by SK Engineering and Construction (SK E&C). The global construction industry was reportedly astounded that SK E&C managed to shorten the construction period by three months despite the extreme difficulty of digging a tunnel 100 meters below water.

On Dec. 20, SK E&C announced that the Eurasia Tunnel had been opened to traffic. The two-story tunnel passes beneath the Bosphorus Strait at the Turkish city of Istanbul, linking Asia and Europe. The ribbon-cutting ceremony on that day was attended by various government official and business representatives from the two countries, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, SK E&C President Choi Kwang-chul and South Korean Ambassador to Turkey Cho Yun-soo.

As the first two-story road tunnel connecting the two continents, the Eurasia Tunnel runs for 14.6 km (including the land-based access roads), costing a total of US$1.24 billion. To complete the project, SK E&C explained, it deployed the world’s largest tunnel boring machine, with a diameter of 13.7 meters and a total length of 120 meters. Each day, the machine moved forward 7 meters, digging up enough earth and sand from the seafloor to fill an average of 100 25-ton trucks.

The opening of the Eurasia Tunnel is expected to radically improve the infamous traffic congestion in Istanbul, an ancient city and popular tourist destination. 120,000 vehicles a day will be able to use the tunnel, reducing the time it takes to cross the Bosphorus Strait from 100 minutes to 15 minutes.

SK C&T, which will be handling repairs, maintenance and facility operation at the Eurasia Tunnel through 2041 according to the build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract, started work on the tunnel in Jan. 2013 and managed to complete it in just 48 months, three months ahead of schedule.

“The Eurasia Tunnel is a high-return development project that goes one step beyond the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model that domestic construction companies have focused on. Moving forward, we will create more success stories like the Eurasia Tunnel,” said SK E&C President Choi Kwang-chul.

By Choi Jong-hoon, business correspondent

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