Under Water Tunnels

Introduction

Did you ever go from New Jersey to New York the under water tunnel. Or any other under water tunnel. I have. Did you ever wonder how people made that tunnel? Because the pressure under the ground that was under the tunnels was very strong. Also dirt and water could disturb their work. Well there is a special technique used by engineers to build these under water tunnels. It has changed and became more efficient as our technology and resources advanced. But I am going to tell you about the first technique ever.

How?

Well the very first way was created in 1818. A french engineer named Marc Brunel created a device that could make the tunnels. His device was called a "tunnel shield." It was a big, rectangular, iron wall with small shutters on it. Workers would take turns opening the little shields to dig the dirt out. After a bit a progress was made the "tunnel shield" would be pushed back. As it would progress they would build a brick wall around it to make the tunnels sturdy. This was very time consuming. It took workers 9 years to build a 1,200 foot tunnel. That became the first underwater tunnel in the world.

My Opinion

Underwater tunnels are a good idea. It is either the underwater tunnels or an airplane. Many people do not like to ride on airplanes because they are scared of heights, get air sick, don't like to stay in a small place, or any other reason a person could come up with. So if you don't like airplanes you can use an underwater tunnel. For some reasons underwater tunnels may not be the right thing for you. If you need to use the bathroom or get hungry there are no rest stops, if you get car sick easily it may not be a good idea to use the tunnels. I think both the underwater tunnels and airplanes are great.

                                 

                                 As you can see back then the tunnels were not to fancy. The only 

                                 worried about actually building the tunnel. Now people can get the

                                  tunnel up easily because of all the advancements so people get the

                                 tunnel done quickly then start to think about how it is going to look. 

                                 Even though the tunnels these days still are not really "fancy" people

                                 do try to make them look good.

Question of The Week

I hope you learned a lot about under water tunnels. If you are really interested you can research the new ways people make the underwater tunnels. If you had the choice to go on a trip and it was a very long distance that is over seas would you want to drive there in an underwater tunnel or would you want to fly there on an airplane. I think both are cool but I always go on airplanes so maybe next time I will take the underwater tunnel instead. What would you choose underwater tunnel or airplane. Post it in the comments.

Thanks!

Here is where I got my info. Enjoy!

http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-you-build-a-tunnel-underwater/