Here is a new thread for showcasing Icelandic infrastructure projects. Roads, ports, airports, energy infrastructure, heavy industry etc. can be discussed here.
The first project to be presented in this thread is the ferry harbor Landeyjahöfn, that is currently under construction.
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Landeyjahöfn.
What: A ferry harbour on the south coast of Iceland.
Why: To shorten the ferry trip between Vestmannaeyjar and the Icelandic mainland.
When: Construction started in 2008 and the harbor should be ready for use in mid-2010.
Cost: 3.5 billion ISK.
Landeyjahöfn is the largest infrastructure project that is currently going on in Iceland, excluding tunneling projects. The purpose is to better connect the island town of Vestmannaeyjar to the rest of the country. Vestmannaeyjar is a town of 4000 people which is quite large in Icelandic context and one of the largest towns outside the southwestern corner of the country. So far, the island has been connected to the mainland by a ferry that runs to the town of Þorlákshöfn. That ferry route is over 70 km long and takes 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete. The route is also not like your typical ferry ride in the Baltic or Kattegat, it's basically in the open North Atlantic ocean which means that the seas can be very rough. The supplied vomit bags are there for a reason. When one looks at the geography, it begs the question why the islanders aren't spared this torture by taking a much shorter route to the mainland, it is after all only 11 km away. That's because the southern coast of Iceland is very much unlike the rest of the coastline in that it is a sandy beach with no natural harbors all the way from (the previously mentioned) Þorlákshöfn in the west to Höfn in the extreme southeast. Both of these places incorporate the word harbor, höfn, in their names which shows just how important that feature was considered.
So it was not until this century that it was seriously proposed to make a man-made harbor on the coast near Vestmannaeyjar. Many people were skeptical about the whole enterprise and claimed that the harbor would not survive the first winter before it would be completely devoured by the forces of nature. The project has so far gone better than planned so these doomsday-sayers are not as loud as they were at first. When finished, the new ferry will take only 30 minutes to complete the journey. The islanders are hoping for many economic opportunities following the ferry, especially regarding tourism. The nearby communities on the mainland should also benefit since they will suddenly gain 4000 new neighbours overnight.
The project basically involves the following components:
A) Two 600 meter long breakwaters made from rocks that extend into the ocean and close off the inner harbor.
B) Deepening a trench from the ferry terminal to the opening between the breakwaters.
C) A 12 km long road, connecting the ferry terminal to the "ring road".
D) The ferry terminal building and the quay where the ferry docks.
E) A 3 km long flooding barrier along the river Markarfljót just to the east of the harbor site. Markarfljót is a glacial river that can get some pretty violent floods. The area is very flat so if the river is not shielded against, it could flood the whole harbor area as well as the road leading to it.
F) Covering about 8 square km of nearby sands with vegetation. This is very important because if these black sands are left untouched, heavy sandstorms would be a regular happening at the harbor. These sandstorms easily destroy the paint on any vehicle that goes through them. The vegetation cover is provided by the grass species leymus arenarius which is the only known plant that can grow in these sands.
The first project to be presented in this thread is the ferry harbor Landeyjahöfn, that is currently under construction.
---
Landeyjahöfn.
What: A ferry harbour on the south coast of Iceland.
Why: To shorten the ferry trip between Vestmannaeyjar and the Icelandic mainland.
When: Construction started in 2008 and the harbor should be ready for use in mid-2010.
Cost: 3.5 billion ISK.
Landeyjahöfn is the largest infrastructure project that is currently going on in Iceland, excluding tunneling projects. The purpose is to better connect the island town of Vestmannaeyjar to the rest of the country. Vestmannaeyjar is a town of 4000 people which is quite large in Icelandic context and one of the largest towns outside the southwestern corner of the country. So far, the island has been connected to the mainland by a ferry that runs to the town of Þorlákshöfn. That ferry route is over 70 km long and takes 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete. The route is also not like your typical ferry ride in the Baltic or Kattegat, it's basically in the open North Atlantic ocean which means that the seas can be very rough. The supplied vomit bags are there for a reason. When one looks at the geography, it begs the question why the islanders aren't spared this torture by taking a much shorter route to the mainland, it is after all only 11 km away. That's because the southern coast of Iceland is very much unlike the rest of the coastline in that it is a sandy beach with no natural harbors all the way from (the previously mentioned) Þorlákshöfn in the west to Höfn in the extreme southeast. Both of these places incorporate the word harbor, höfn, in their names which shows just how important that feature was considered.
So it was not until this century that it was seriously proposed to make a man-made harbor on the coast near Vestmannaeyjar. Many people were skeptical about the whole enterprise and claimed that the harbor would not survive the first winter before it would be completely devoured by the forces of nature. The project has so far gone better than planned so these doomsday-sayers are not as loud as they were at first. When finished, the new ferry will take only 30 minutes to complete the journey. The islanders are hoping for many economic opportunities following the ferry, especially regarding tourism. The nearby communities on the mainland should also benefit since they will suddenly gain 4000 new neighbours overnight.
The project basically involves the following components:
A) Two 600 meter long breakwaters made from rocks that extend into the ocean and close off the inner harbor.
B) Deepening a trench from the ferry terminal to the opening between the breakwaters.
C) A 12 km long road, connecting the ferry terminal to the "ring road".
D) The ferry terminal building and the quay where the ferry docks.
E) A 3 km long flooding barrier along the river Markarfljót just to the east of the harbor site. Markarfljót is a glacial river that can get some pretty violent floods. The area is very flat so if the river is not shielded against, it could flood the whole harbor area as well as the road leading to it.
F) Covering about 8 square km of nearby sands with vegetation. This is very important because if these black sands are left untouched, heavy sandstorms would be a regular happening at the harbor. These sandstorms easily destroy the paint on any vehicle that goes through them. The vegetation cover is provided by the grass species leymus arenarius which is the only known plant that can grow in these sands.