It would connect two cities 50km apart which are at the moment served by two country roads prone to closure when the weather is bad and a roundabout railway system
New proposals being aired today would see Norwegian tunnelling technology link Manchester and Sheffield under the Pennines by means of motorway
A start-up has argued that it should be possible to add billions to the local economy by reviving a rejected scheme to build a Pennine tunnel.
Michael Dnes formerly of the Department of Transport and now heading Future Works says that working with Norconsult, a Norwegian engineering consultancy,the tunnel could be blasted, making it “jaw-droppingly cheap” and allowing it to be financed privately through a toll road.
Currently motorists have two choices
The Snake Pass (A57) is the most direct route (about 35–40 miles) taking 1 to 1.5 hours. It is a famously picturesque but steep and winding route that is highly vulnerable to winter closures and poor weather
The Woodhead Pass (A628) is about 40 miles and typically takes 1 hour and 30 minutes.
A motorway has been discussed since the 1960s. It was originally intended to extend the M67 through the Peak District to the M1.
However, the plans were ultimately scrapped due to the extreme costs, the environmental damage it would cause to the national park, and the difficulty of building a tunnel or road through the high moorland
Work has now begun on the A57 Mottram Bypass which will take traffic from the end of the M67 at Mottram past Tintwhistle
According to Norconsult, the geology of the Pennines matches areas already tunnelled in Norway, making it plausible that Scandinavian techniques which involve blasting the rock rather than conventional tunnelling techniques could work.
Maybe one for Andy Burnham’s to sort?
