Africa.
Europe - a continent apart, and yet closer than you’d think.
So close, in fact, that you could build a bridge between them.
Yet no one’s taking a stroll between them any time soon.
Why?
The answer is pretty complicated, and it all comes back to one place - the Strait of Gibraltar.
This is the mouth of the Mediterranean sea, and it borders both Spain and Morocco - although
it also contains the territorial waters of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.
That’s three countries laying claim to one of the most important straits of water in
the world - because it connects all the countries of the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean.
And at its narrowest point, it’s only 8.1 miles total.
A skilled open water swimmer could easily make it across their own - although most people
would probably prefer an easier way of traveling between continents.
And the status of this area is more than a little complicated.
While Spain, Morocco, and Britain all view it as their territory to some degree, the
importance of the region has led to a truce - and the odds are any attempt to interfere
with free traffic would lead to the international community coming down on them like a ton of
bricks.
The area is also protected by the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, which states
that all foreign vessels have the right to travel through the strait unimpeded.
This isn’t the only potential road block for a bridge though, as the British territory
is also home to the Rock of Gibraltar, a massive nature preserve and archaeological site that
attracts many tourists - including those looking to see the Barbary Macaque monkeys.
But the status of the territory became a little more complicated recently.
While all three countries agree to allow free passage, the status of the Gibraltar territory
is a thorn in the side of Spanish-British relations.
Spain still lays claim to the territory which over 34,000 people currently call home.
Most of them speak Spanish, but would overall prefer to remain in their current status quo.
However, with Brexit and the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, many Gibraltar
residents want to retain the freedom of movement they had under the old system - and negotiations
are ongoing to figure out what the future of the territory looks like.
And that’s where the tricky part of the region comes in.
If a bridge was built from Europe to Africa, Gibraltar would likely be the starting location.
The next closest location, between Malta and Tunisia, is around 300 miles, a distance better
traversed by boat or airplane.
On the other hand, the gap between Gibraltar and Morocco is shorter than a half-marathon
and could easily be walked in a few hours by most people - if they had the option.
And if some people have their way, they just might.
It wouldn’t be the first time that someone proposed linking two countries - although
not two continents - by a bridge or tunnel.
And that one was actually a lot longer - the crossing between the United Kingdom and France.
The decision to build the Chunnel, the tunnel spanning the English Channel, was first discussed
in 1802, but was eventually organized in the late 1900s and opened in 1994.
It was the most expensive construction project of all time at the time, costing over nine
billion pounds, or just over 20 billion dollars today.
The tunnel is thirty-one miles long, making it the third-longest rail tunnel in the world.
Given the cost and the delicate design, the deep-underground tunnel doesn’t host passengers
or regular car vehicles - it’s a rail tunnel that carries freight trains, passenger trains,
and a special car that can carry road vehicles across the route in style - taking its passengers
from the UK to France in around 35 minutes.
But the ride hasn’t always been smooth.
From the start, people were concerned about the ease of travel between the two countries.
After all, we can’t have those loud cheese-loving Frenchmen coming over to Jolly Old England!
And we can’t have those tea-loving Brits overrunning Paris!
Alarmist editorial cartoons started running as soon as the tunnel was proposed, but in
the end the appeal of convenience won out.
And today, people are more concerned about another issue - migrants potentially using
the Channel Tunnel to bypass the border security of each country.
A Gibraltar bridge would be much more complicated.
For one thing, it would be a massive undertaking that would involve the cooperation of all
three countries - and relations aren’t always great there.
The UK and Spain usually get along, but the Gibraltar issue still causes some diplomatic
rows.
Would they be able to agree on the use of the territory to perform such a massive construction
project, or would it die the death of a thousand cuts?
And that’s even before we talk about the other end of the project - Morocco.
While Morocco currently has decent relations with both countries, the colonial scars of
the past means that such a big investment into the country might be perceived as being
suspicious.
Morocco only gained independence in 1956, and was part of a tug-of-war between Spain
and France previously.
And there would be some major issues to sort out before a bridge could be created.
For one thing, the Channel Tunnel was easier to create because of the Schengen Agreement,
which allows free movement between the EU countries.
Since the UK left the European Union, passport checks have had to be added to the trains
passing through.
But when it comes to Europe and Africa, free movement has never been part of the deal.
That means that any new connection to the continent would require new border security
infrastructure.
While the colonial history of Europe would give Morocco pause, the odds are good the
opposition in Europe might be even stronger.
Europe has been seeing a large influx of people from Africa and the Middle East in recent
years, as countless families flee political oppression and poverty in their country of
origin.
A bridge between the two countries could become a new hub for migration.
Okay, so it’s a thorny political issue - but that won’t stop engineers!
Is a Europe-Africa crossing even possible?
That depends on what kind of crossing you’re looking for.
The process has actually been planned for a while, although not from mainland Europe
to Africa - in 2021, British and Moroccan authorities began discussing connecting Gibraltar
to Morocco, which would mean Spanish residents would have access to the crossing by entering
the British territory.
The possibility has been discussed since 1979, and it’s become a bit of an obestion for
many engineers.
The first and seemingly easiest method to link the two continents was a bridge - after
all, look!
The continents are so close to eachother that you can actually see the other side.
Turns out it’s not as simple as that.
The longest bridge in the world, the Dayang-Kushan Grand Bridge, is over a hundred miles long,
dwarfing what would be needed to cross the Mediterranean - but that’s a deceptive statistic.
While it’s the longest bridge out there, it’s mostly on land with only 5.6 miles
being over open water across a large lake.
This portion of the bridge is connected to supports in the water- which would be much
harder to pull off when you’re crossing a sea.
A straight shot from Gibraltar to Tangiers would be twice as long and might be structurally
unsound.
A proposal by architect Eugene Tsui suggested building an artificial island in the middle
to make the project possible, but this would be a massive undertaking.
So if we can’t go over…why don’t we go under?
The success of the Channel Tunnel made a lot of people think that this could be the solution
to the Europe-Africa crossing as well.
In fact, Spain proposed a tunnel way back in 1930 - only to discover that the material
under the Strait of Gibraltar was incredibly hard!
They had no chance of getting through it then - but with modern tunneling technology, it
might be possible.
So a major geological study was undertaken in the 2000s, as architects tried to find
the easiest and safest route.
Ultimately, they found that while it might be possible - it wouldn’t be easy.
The shortest route led to a deep area of the Strait, over 3,000 feet deep.
Another area was found to only have a depth of around 900 feet - but it was much longer,
over fourteen miles.
Fortunately, there is existing infrastructure.
Both Spain and Morocco have high-speed rail lines already, which could serve as the foundations
of the line.
Both would build extensions from their current lines, meeting in the middle of the strait.
At which point, the two lines would combine into the new Gibraltar tunnel, creating a
total line that would be around 25 miles long, run almost a thousand feet under the sea,
and be constructed over a fifteen-year period.
This would be slightly deeper than the Ryfylke Tunnel, which is 955 feet deep in Norway and
connects two southern regions.
It’s certainly something for train fans to get excited over - but will it happen?
It’s not clear, for a number of reasons.
For one thing, this would be a very expensive project, possibly the most expensive train
tunnel in history.
It would also require long-term cooperation between three independent nations, all of
whom have some history of tension with each other - and one diplomatic row could throw
the entire thing into chaos and leave billions on the table.
From there, it would be a constant game of watching for any structural issues - because
only a few tunnels of this scale have ever been built, and with a structure this, any
small imperfection could lead to a massive disaster.
But that might not be the biggest reason why it won’t happen.
Morocco brings in the second most amount of tourists out of all the countries in Africa.
But that only puts it in 36th place overall, and it’s not clear if there’s enough demand
for easy transit that everyone would be willing to cooperate on a massive project.
Additionally, Morocco has several major airports, and ferry transport between the two countries
is common.
Would a new tunnel between Gibraltar and Morocco be an essential way to alleviate a glut of
tourists - or just an expensive project that would please no one but fans of transport
records?
It may not happen now, especially if the world goes into a recession, but one thing is for
sure.
Tangiers, the city that would be the Moroccan end-point of the tunnel, is growing fast.
It’s a beachside town that is quickly becoming one of Morocco’s biggest tourist draws.
And as that trend continues, it’ll have more tourists clamoring for a place at one
of its fancy hotels - and they may find the prospect of an easy path from Europe to Africa
a big selling point.
So those who hold stocks in tunnel-digging equipment might want to hold.
Want to know more about strange borders around the world?
Check out “How the World Map Has Changed over 1,000 Years” or watch this video instead!