ABSTRACT
In recent years, longer and deeper sea and river crossings adopting different tunnelling techniques became feasible. Sustainable methods and more environmental friendly materials encouraged to be used in design and construction to minimize the environmental impact and ensure the long-term viability. In most cases, environmental conditions such as hydrostatic pressure, geological profile, marine traffic, sea/riverbed contamination level, existing utilities, marine ecology, facing to open sea or not, construction period and cost affect determination of tunnelling method selection.
This paper discusses about sea and river crossing tunnelling methods such as immersed tube tunnel, TBM tunnel, mined tunnel, offshore cut-and-cover tunnel as well as submerged floating tunnel which is expected to be built in the near future, and compares based on various aspects as basis for selection supported by case studies.
