
At the moment, if you want to drive to Germany from Copenhagen you have to head west past Odense and then South until you reach Flensburg. All in all, that drive will take you around 3 and a half hours, and that’s if you’re lucky. It’s easier to catch the ferry across to Fehmarn, but in a few years, the trip between Copenhagen and Germany will be a lot easier.
A tunnel is being constructed beneath the sea, and it’s going to be the longest underwater tunnel in the world. It will run between Lolland and Fehmarn, the route that the ferry takes. Come 2029 you’ll be able to drive right through the tunnel to Germany along the 18-kilometer tunnel under the Baltic Sea.
You’ll also be able to take a train along the route as the forty metre tunnel will contain a double-track railway and a four-lane highway. Cars will be able to drive at a maximum of 100km/h and trains will travel at 200km/h. This will cut travel time from Lolland to Fehmarn from 45 minutes by ferry to 35 minutes by car.
This doesn’t seem like a huge decrease in travel time but ferries can be delayed and even canceled by bad weather. Building a tunnel beneath the sea itself means that even when ferries are canceled the tunnels below won’t be affected by the weather. You can read more about the project on the Ramboll website.