10,269 of an estimate total 10,786 meters of the Sandoy undersea road tunnel have now been bored, leaving only 517m to reach the much anticipated breakthrough point, which is expected to occur shortly after the holiday season.
According to government-held owner and operator Eystur- og Sandoyartunlar, progress has been rather slow over the past couple of weeks on the Streymoy side, with a total of 4,738m excavated from that side to date. From the Sandoy side, meanwhile, a total distance of 5,531m has been bored so far.
Last week thus, 71m were bored from the Sandoy side, whereas just eight metres were dug out on the Streymoy side.
Eystur- og Sandoyartunlar CEO Teitur Samuelsen told national broadcaster KvF that it’s unlikely the tunnel construction process will reach breakthrough this side of Christmas.
Work on the the giant piece of infrastructure started in the summer of 2019, with the estimated time of completion set for 2023. The Sandoy Tunnel will be the Faroe Islands’ fourth subsea road tunnel — after the Vagar Tunnel (Vágatunnilin) opened in 2002, the Northern Tunnel (Norðoyatunnilin) in 2006 and the Eysturoy Tunnel (Eysturoyartunnilin) in 2020.