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Advancing one metre every four hours

Tunnel. So far one-quarter of the eventual 252 metres has been excavated

C.M.W.Maó13/12/10 0:00

A new Austrian tunnelling method, using the geological tension of the rock, is being employed to create a passage through the hill on the future Ferreries bypass and is bearing fruit. The tunnel is growing at the steady pace of one metre every four hours, with one-quarter of the eventual length having already been excavated.

Some 60 people are employed directly or indirectly on this phase of the ambitious project, the majority of them specialists in their field. The speed at which the tunnel is currently progressing is attributed to the rock being less hard than anticipated, although there is no guarantee that this will continue to be the case.

Rodrigo del Pozo, one of the men in charge of the work, explained that the finished tunnel will be 252 metres in length, 170 metres of which will be excavated and the remainder a "false" tunnel which will allow the landscape to be restored. The curve of the tunnel will have a radius of 1,000 metres and a slope of 3%. When completed, the tunnel will carry two lanes of traffic in the direction of Ciutadella and one heading towards Maó.