Lofoten Islands, Norway

🇳🇴 Lofoten Islands, Norway 🇳🇴

Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. Its largest town, Leknes, is approximately 169 km (105 mi) inside the Arctic Circle and approximately 2,420 km (1,500 mi) away from the North Pole, making Lofoten one of the world's northernmost populated regions. 

Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the waters of the Gulf Stream flow between the islands and keep the winter water temperature surprisingly high for such a latitude. 

All the larger islands in Lofoten are connected by bridges or undersea tunnels. The largest of these tunnels is Sørdal Tunnel (6.3 km) and there is also Sløverfjord Tunnel (3.3 km) and five more tunnels as well the 700 m long Raftsund Bridge. The final bridge crossing from Hinnøya over to the mainland is the Tjeldsund Bridge.

Planning started about improving the road from Gullesfjordbotn in east Lofoten to near the Harstad/Narvik Airport. This will include multiple mountain tunnels and an undersea tunnel under the Tjeldsundet strait, and will shorten the distance by 35 km and the drive time by 30 minutes. Construction is expected to be finished by 2030.


#construction #engineering #norway #development #infrastructure #tunnel