Fixed link crossings: a global perspective

This paper benchmarks the challenges involved with major sea, or fixed link, crossings from their planning to final construction. Initially it gives an overview of existing major crossings globally, including statistical information such as length and inflation adjusted project costs. Well known links such as the UK Channel Tunnel and the more recent Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau crossing have been included in the data. The paper considers the construction methods required to surmount the challenges of bridging or tunnelling such crossings. The paper presents statistics on the construction time period for these crossings and considers links between construction time and cost. Finally, the paper looks to the future: How the data can be used to better bound estimates of time and costs for fixed link projects. The paper also considers other potentially important future benchmarking data such as carbon emissions.