The Eurasia Tunnel in Istanbul, an engineering marvel being built by S. Korean builder SK E&C, has been named the 2016 Global Best Tunnel Project by a world-renowned engineering magazine.
SK E&C said on July 21 that its Eurasia Tunnel project has been selected as the Global Best Project by the Engineering News-Record (ENR), an American weekly magazine that provides news and analysis for the construction industry. SK E&C has thus become the first Korean construction company to win the honor.
The Eurasia Tunnel project will construct the world’s first intercontinental double-deck undersea tunnel across the Bosphorus strait of Istanbul to connect Asia with Europe.
SK E&C has been recognized for successfully completing a 3.34-kilometer section of the tunnel underwater (110 meters at its deepest point) by mobilizing the world’s largest tunnel boring machine (TBM), 13.7 meters in cross-sectional diameter, 120 meters in length and 3,300 tons in weight. The 3.34-kilometer section has been built to sustain water pressure 11 times higher than atmospheric pressure.
Undersea excavation began in August last year. It took SK C&C 16 months to bore the tunnel under the Bosphorus strait of Istanbul. The Eurasia Tunnel is slated to open in April 2017. SK E&C will then take charge of the maintenance and facility operation of the tunnel until June 2041.
