The Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel is a 1640 metre long car

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

under the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popula ...

, at Shallufa. The tunnel is named after

Ahmed Hamdi Ahmed Hamdi (20 May 1929 – 14 October 1973) was an Egyptian engineer and a general of the 3rd Army of Egypt during the October War. He was killed while crossing the Suez Canal with his soldiers and was awarded the Sinai star posthumously. ...

, an Egyptian engineer and general killed in action during the

October War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...

. It has two lanes of traffic, one in each direction, and connects the Asian

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

to the town of

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...

on the African mainland.

Construction

It was originally constructed as a shield tunnel by Tarmac Construction in November 1981. In 1992, the

Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, ...

granted aid to a project aimed at rehabilitating the tunnel which had developed leaks. It is 1.63 km long and has an outside diameter of 11.6 m. The tunnel reaches a maximum depth of 51 m (167 feet) below ground level.Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel under the Suez Canal
''www.ace-mb.com'', accessed 10 April 2021

Significant developments in the region

The tunnel was part of a major drive to develop the areas surrounding the

, including other projects such as the Suez Canal overhead line crossing (completed in 1998), the El Ferdan Railway Bridge, and the Suez Canal Bridge (completed in 2001).

References

External links

Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel
Roads in Egypt Suez Canal Tunnels in Egypt Tunnels completed in 1983 Road tunnels in Africa {{Egypt-road-stub

Construction

Significant developments in the region

See also

References

External links