Island: The Faeroe

Faeroe Islands mountains are steep and they drop dramatically toward the sea. A tiny cluster of 18 islands in the restless waters of the North Atlantic, the people speak Faeroese.

The first tunnel in the Faeroes opened in 1963. It was cut through a mountain on the southernmost island, Suoroy. The tunneling, which involved extensive digging, drilling and dynamitting, was done simultaneously from both sides of the mountain.

The tunnel takes traffic some 150 meters below the sea and connects two of the larger island. It was opened for traffic on April 29, 2006. No other nation in the world has more kilometers of tunnels in proportion to its number of inhabitants. Parliament has decided to build two more between major islands. One of them, expected to be completed next year, 2012, will be 11.9 kilometers long, making it one of the longest underwater tunnels in the world.