Since the end of the Second World War, Europe has been on a road to integration.
From the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community to the implementation
of a single currency, the last seven decades have seen the continent’s diverse mix of
nations come together - to create one of the largest and most powerful economic and political
entities in history.
Now, covering 4.4 million square kilometres, the European Union is spending billions on
infrastructure projects to better connect its 440 million citizens and encourage further
economic growth.
From undersea tunnels to continent-spanning railroads,
these infrastructure projects are uniting Europe.
Separated from the rest of the country by the Neum corridor since 1991, the 2.4-kilometre
Plejesac Bridge will reconnect the exclave of Dubrovnik-Neretva to the Croatian mainland
and remove the need for border checks with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Though construction first began in 2007, the bridge was put on hold for almost a decade
when the Global Financial Crisis hit, and works didn’t resume until 2018.
Due for completion in 2022, the €420M bridge will be constructed by the China Road and
Bridge Corporation, while the 32 kilometres of connecting roads, tunnels and viaducts
will be carried out by Austrian and Greek contractors.
Connecting the interior of the continent to the ocean, canals have formed the backbone
of Europe’s trade network for centuries.
While they remain an efficient way to transport goods, the limitations of draught (or depth)
and lock size amongst many of Europe’s older canals now limits their use to vessels weighing
less than 600 tonnes.
To accommodate larger vessels up to 4,500 tonnes, the Seine-Scheldt Project will link
Paris to the North Sea and the ports of Dunkirk, Antwerp and Rotterdam by constructing 177
kilometres of new canal routes.
The €8BN scheme will ultimately connect the Rhine and Seine basins, opening up the
continent’s interior to larger vessels, while reducing the reliance on road freight.
Under construction since 2008, the Brenner Base Tunnel is a 64-kilometre twin-tube railway
tunnel and bypass that will connect Austria and Italy beneath the Eastern Alps.
Replacing a large section of the existing Brenner Railway, the project will reduce the
travel time from Innsbruck in Austria to Bolzano in Italy from two hours to just 50 minutes,
cutting pollution in the region and improving freight efficiency.
When the €8.4BN project completes in 2028 it will form a critical part of the 2,200-kilometre
Berlin-Palermo railway axis; connecting central and southern Europe with a single railway line.
Set to become the longest tunnel of its kind in the world, the 18-kilometre Fehmarnbelt
Tunnel is an immersed road and rail route between Denmark and Germany.
Using prefabricated elements assembled in Denmark, the tunnel sections - each weighing
73,000 tonnes - will be floated out to sea before being lowered by pontoons into a pre-dredged
trench and covered with layers of rock and sand.
At a cost of €7.4BN, the tunnel will cut the travel time between Denmark and Germany
from 45 minutes by ferry to 10 minutes by car and just seven minutes by rail - with
high-speed trains running at up to 200 km/h between Copenhagen and Hamburg.
With construction set begin on 1 January 2021, the tunnel will not only
link Denmark and Germany but improve connectivity from the European mainland onto Sweden and
the “Nordic Triangle” rail network via the Øresund Bridge.
Connecting the French and Italian high-speed rail networks, the 270-kilometre Lyon-Turin
High-Speed Railway is one of Europe’s most ambitious infrastructure schemes with a price
tag of €25BN.
Sitting at the heart of the project and requiring one-third of its entire budget is the 57.5-kilometre
Mont d’Ambin Base Tunnel.
Running beneath the alps, at depths of up to three kilometres, the tunnel will surpass
Switzerland’s Gotthard Base Tunnel by just 400 metres to become the longest railway tunnel
ever constructed.
Works began in 2019 and are expected to take 10 years to complete,
Galileo - the European Union’s state-of-the-art satellite navigation system - provides global
positioning services independent of the US or Russian networks.
First launched in 2011, and mainly used for civilian purposes, Galileo has driven continent-wide
navigation, providing much greater accuracy for its users than the United States’ GPS,
which reserves its highest quality signals for the military.
With second-generation satellites beginning deployment in 2025, the system is set to play
an even greater role in trans-continental navigation in the years ahead as driverless
technology and autonomous vehicles come to our streets.
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