Norway’s grand plan to build the world’s first full-scale ship tunnel is finally going ahead. This is how it’ll be done.

It’s been talked about for years, but now the Stad Ship Tunnel has finally been approved and work will start in 2022. Costing over USD $300M and taking three-to-four years to complete, the project will see a new mile-long shipping route carved under the Stadhavet peninsula at its narrowest point.

Now, we’ve built tunnels for boats before – like on the Canal du Midi in France, but the Norway project takes things to a whole different level – after all there’s a pretty big difference between a small tourist boat and a cruise ship.

Measuring 37 metres high by 26.5 metres wide, and with a depth of 12 metres, the tunnel will be big enough for ships up to 16,000 tonnes to pass through.

This crazy project is the answer to a problem that’s existed for more than a thousand years. Quite literally since the time of the Vikings, traversing the Stadhavet Sea has meant a treacherous journey for boats.