This video about tunnels in the Faroes sparked off my interest:

The Faroes are a small archipelago, and for connectivity there’s a few options: Air, Sea, and Undersea. It seems like they are moving away from ferries from the more popular routes towards tunnels.

Scotland is similar in that it has many small permanently inhabited islands along its north and west coastlines. Could these tunnels in the Faroes be a lesson that Scotland could learn from?

Scotland is currently embroiled in a bit of a mess regarding ferry provisioning. Our ferry fleet is old and needs replacing, leading to many delays and loss of connectivity with island communities. Some of the ferries we have invested in building are over budget and late. To date Scotland has spent around £2 Billion in ferry related investments.

From this video, it seems to suggest that building a 12Km tunnel could cost around £300 Million. This is an expensive one-time investment, but I’m wondering if, long-term, this would be the better solution than relying on ferries.

• Tunnels are weather-resistant. No more cancelled crossings due to poor weather or seasickness in choppy water.
• Tunnels allow for more eco-friendly transport. They can run electric trains / cars / buses instead of carbon fuel guzzling ships.
• A tunnel’s lifetime can be up to a hundred years or more, longer than a ferry which may be limited to a few decades.
• You can combine them with other infrastructure, such as island-mainland electrical interconnectors to bring down overall costs for all the projects.
• Scotland has no shipbuilding capability anymore, but an ongoing national project in tunnelling and associated engineering could provide long-term career opportunities.

The high cost could be mitigated by charging tolls at a similar or lower rate to those already charged by ferry companies. Some Faroese tunnels charge around £10 for use.

The only minor concern I have is watching that video, the high angle shots at the end highlight the traffic jams that are present. But Scotland has decent, if not quite perfect, public transport, and so designing a tunnel system that could prioritise trains or buses doesn’t seem like a big ask.

Could tunnels be the future for Scotland’s islands?