Eiffel Tower

Clock Tower

St. Louis Arch

Statue of Liberty

Channel Tunnel

Panama Canal

Hoover Dam

References

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The idea of connecting France and England with a tunnel under the English Channel has been considered since the time of Napoleon, when the first plan for building a tunnel was made. Work on the current tunnel actually started in the late 1970s but stopped because of money problems. Construction began again in 1984 and was completed in 1993. It opened in 1994. It was built with private funds, but treaties were signed between France and England permitting construction of the tunnel.

Engineers had many problems to overcome in constructing the three tunnels that are known as the Chunnel. Construction started on both sides of the Channel and the tunnels had to meet in the middle. Special machines had to be built to bore through the rock under the Channel.

(View of Tunnel Construction )

In addition to the engineering challenges, this project required working in two languages, English and French, and using two sets of national construction, safety and legal codes. It involved ten contractors and 220 syndicate banks.

The Channel Tunnel was completed at a cost of $12 billion. At 31.35 miles in length, it is the second longest tunnel in the world. The train cars and coaches that travel in it are each 1/4 mile long. The trains reach speeds of 186 miles per hour.

Since the start in 1994, they have carried 3.5 million cars and coaches, 1 million lorries, 8 million passengers, and 4 million tons of goods.

Now the next engineering challenge, according to John Leinhard of the University of Houston, is a bridge between England and France