Strait of Gibraltar Tunnel Project Advances: Spain and Morocco Opt for Underwater Link

Spain and Morocco are working on the construction of the tunnel under the strait before the 2030 World Cup, which they are jointly organizing with Portugal. For now, the project is still in the study phase. When it was first mentioned forty years ago, several options were proposed for the project to build a fixed link between Spain and Morocco.

Among a suspended bridge on fixed supports, a suspended bridge on floating supports, an immersed tunnel supported on the seabed, a floating immersed tunnel, and a submarine tunnel, the suspended bridge on fixed supports and the submarine tunnel were retained in the mid-90s as the most viable options, after numerous studies.

However, the joint Morocco-Spain committee decided in 1996 to choose the submarine tunnel option due to its low environmental impact and impact on maritime navigation, its lower cost, and the possibility of gradual implementation based on demand, and finally, the well-known and tested tunnel boring technology.

With a length of 38.7 kilometers, including 27.7 kilometers underwater, the tunnel should connect Punta Malabata in Morocco to Punta Paloma in Spain. The project plans for the construction of two single-track railway tunnels with a circular section of 7.90 meters interior diameter, separated by a service/safety gallery of 6 meters in diameter, and transverse galleries of 6 meters in diameter each every 340 meters.