The Hitra Tunnel () is an

undersea tunnel An underwater tunnel is a tunnel which is partly or wholly constructed under the sea or a river. They are often used where building a bridge or operating a ferry link is unviable, or to provide competition or relief for existing bridges or ferry l ...

Hitra Municipality Hitra is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality covers the Hitra (island), island of Hitra and hundreds of smaller islands, islets, and Skerry, skerries as well as an ar ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The tunnel connects the island of Hitra to the mainland. The tunnel is long and reaches a depth of below sea level, making it the deepest tunnel in the world when it was built, overtaking Byfjord Tunnel. The tunnel begins on the island of Jøsnøya, just south of the village of Sandstad. The tunnel then runs under the

Trondheimsleia The Trondheimsleia is a strait in Møre og Romsdal and Trøndelag counties in Norway. The long strait runs between the islands of Smøla and Hitra and the mainland municipalities of Aure, Heim, and Orkland. The strait has several fjords whic ...

to the island of Hemnskjela. There is a small bridge connecting Hemnskjela to the mainland. The tunnel was built as part of a large project called "Fastlandsforbindelsen Hitra–Frøya". The project also included the construction of the

Frøya Tunnel The Frøya Tunnel () is an undersea tunnel connecting Frøya Municipality and Hitra Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The tunnel, on county road 714, is located about south of the village of Sistranda on the island of Frøya (island), F ...

and the construction of a road and bridge network connecting the islands of Fjellværøy and Frøya. The tunnel has three lanes. Nearly 2,500 cars pass through it every day. Electronics and pumps handle over of water per hour.

Media gallery

File:Hitratunnelhemnskjel2.jpg, View of the south end of the tunnel File:Hemnskjelbrua.jpg, View of the bridge connecting Hemnskjela to the mainland

References

Hitra Road tunnels in Trøndelag Subsea tunnels in Norway 1994 establishments in Norway Tunnels completed in 1994 {{Norway-tunnel-stub