Today is Tunnel Day, which celebrates the building of the first tunnel between two countries in 1930. The Detroit-Windsor tunnel was the world's first vehicular tunnel from the USA to a foreign country (Canada). Here are 10 facts about tunnels:
The word "tunnel" comes from the Middle English tonnelle, meaning "a net". This in turn comes from Old French tonnel, a diminutive of tonne ("cask"). So the word started life as a metaphor for a confined space like the inside of a barrel.
The first tunnels were probably made by prehistoric people who wanted to make their homes (ie caves) a bit bigger.
The first artificial tunnel was built in around 2200 BC by the Babylonians, to connect the temple of Belos with the royal palace.
In the middle ages, people in Europe were building small tunnels called erdstalls. This word derives from old German words for earth and mineshafts. They are typically just 1.0 to 1.4 metres (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 7 in) high and a maximum of about 60 centimetres (24 in) wide. Nobody knows what they were used for. Possibly they were to escape or hide from something, but most historians believe they had a religious purpose.
The longest tunnel in the world is used to carry drinking water from reservoirs upstate to to New York City. It’s 137,000 m (85.128 miles) long.
The longest tunnel which conveys people is the Suzhou Metro Line 3-11 in ChinaSuzhou, China, which is 86,542 m (53.775 miles) long.
Some tunnels go underwater, allowing people and traffic to cross bodies of Water. Why not just build a Bridge, you might ask, since it’s way cheaper to build a bridge than a tunnel. There are many reasons why a tunnel is more practical than a bridge in some locations. It might be because of tides, or shipping traffic. It might be because building a bridge might spoil an iconic view as was the case with The Sydney Harbour Tunnel. The 1934 Queensway Tunnel under the River Mersey in Liverpool was chosen over a bridge because a bridge could get bombed or act as a landmark for enemy aircraft. The longest underwater tunnel is the 31-mile Channel Tunnel linking France and England.
The deepest tunnel in the world is the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland. It reaches a depth of 2,300 meters (7,546 feet) at its deepest point under the Swiss Alps.
There are numerous secret tunnels in the world. These are used for smuggling, like the smuggling tunnels in the Gaza Strip which connect it to Egypt, or Metro-2, a deep underground metro system in the Moscow metropolitan area designed to provide the Soviet leadership with secure wartime evacuation routes. There are probably any number of secret tunnels in existence now that by definition, we don’t know about. Yet.
Toronto has 30 kilometres of tunnels underneath its downtown area, connecting shops, subway stations and restaurants so people don’t have to go outside in severe weather.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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