The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link (Danish language: Femern Bælt-forbindelsen, German language: Fehmarnbelt-Querung) is an immersed tunnel (in earlier design iterations, a bridge) that is proposed to connect the German offshore island of Fehmarn with the Danish island of Lolland. This would cross over the Fehmarn Belt in the Baltic Sea – 18 km (11 mi) wide – hence providing a direct link by railroad and highway between northern Germany and Lolland, and thence to the Danish island of Zealand. This route is known in German as the Vogelfluglinie and in Danish as the Fugleflugtslinjen (literally, "bird flight line").
Fehmarn Island is already connected by bridge with the German mainland, and Lolland is already connected by a tunnel and bridges with Zealand over the island Falster. Furthermore, Zealand is already connected with the Swedish coast via the Øresund Bridge. Although there is already a fixed bridge-tunnel connection between Zealand and Germany, using the detour over Great Belt, the Fehmarn Belt fixed link would provide an easier and speedier route from Germany to Zealand, Sweden and Norway.
The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link was tentatively expected to be completed in the year 2018, but the date has been changed to 2021. Originally conceived as a bridge, in December 2010 Femern A/S announced that a tunnel was preferable to a bridge as this would present fewer construction risks, although the financial cost would be broadly similar. The Danish government approved the project by a large parliamentary majority in January 2011, although a final decision will not be made until 2012.
Read more about Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link: Project, Project History, Criticism
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