Boris bridge would cost £335bn
PM’s bid to build Scotland to Northern Ireland link is sunk
BORIS Johnson’s dream of a bridge linking Scotland to Northern Ireland would be ‘impossible to justify’ because costs could reach up to £335billion, a report found.
The review, led by respected Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy, also found a tunnel crossing would cost up to £209billion.
It is unlikely either would be open for at least 25 to 30 years due to planning, design, parliamentary and legal processes and construction.
Cutting-edge engineering would make a tunnel or bridge ‘possible’ to construct, but would come with ‘significant challenges, albeit not insurmountable,’ the report said.
Either would be the longest undersea tunnel or span bridge ever built.
A tunnel could only accommodate rail due to ‘today’s technology and safety considerations’, it was found.
The cost estimate for a bridge is 22 times higher than the 2019 costing of ‘about £15bn’ by Mr Johnson, who saw a 21-mile fixed link across the Irish Sea as a way to strengthen ties between different parts of the UK.
Sir Peter concluded in his report published yesterday: ‘Whilst the economic and social effects would be transformational, the costs would be impossible to justify, given the Government’s already very significant commitment to long-term transport infrastructure improvement for levelling up.’
Until currently high-cost engineering techniques become cheaper, ‘the benefits could not possibly outweigh the costs to the public purse’, the report said. It would also be 40 to 60 years before a bridge becomes ‘carbon-neutral’ due to the scale of work, in a blow to the Government’s aim of becoming net-zero by 2050.
Sir Peter said: ‘It is therefore my recommendation to Government that further work on the fixed link should not progress beyond this feasibility study.’ It means the idea of a fixed link will be shelved for the foreseeable future.
Particular challenges faced by creating a tunnel or bridge include up to one million tonnes of unexploded First World War munitions that were dumped in a large dyke which may need to be traversed. A bridge would also require foundations at depths of up to 165metres.
In the report Sir Peter also gave recommendations on how to better connect the four nations of the UK via future air, rail and road projects.
Among 12 main recommendations were boosting journey times and capacity on the West Coast Main Line, which runs from London to Glasgow. One suggestion was creating a better connection between HS2’s western leg up to Manchester and the West Coast Main Line, by creating a new link just south of Preston. The report also found capacity on the East Coast Main Line is ‘constrained’ by existing infrastructure and that solutions were needed for boosting it.
Sir Peter also recommended upgrading the A75 to improve road links with Northern Ireland, relieving M4 congestion and improving connectivity between north Wales and North West England on the A55, M53 and M56.
‘Impossible to justify expense’