A fixed link or fixed crossing is a permanent, unbroken road or rail connection across water that uses some combination of bridges, tunnels, and causeways and does not involve intermittent connections such as drawbridges or ferries. A bridge–tunnel combination is commonly used for major fixed links.
This is a list of proposed and actual transport links between continents and to offshore islands. See also list of bridge–tunnels for another list of fixed links including links across rivers, bays and lakes.
History
Cosmopolitan Railway
In 1890 William Gilpin first proposed to connect all the continents by land via the Cosmopolitan Railway. Significant elements of that proposal, such as the English Channel Tunnel, have been constructed since that era. However, the improvement of the global shipping industry and advent of international air travel has reduced the demand for many intercontinental land connections.
Trans-Global Highway
The Trans-Global Highway is a range of highway systems proposed by futurist Frank X. Didik that would link all six of the inhabited continents. People could drive cars from Australia to California via Russia and Alaska. People from New York could drive to London via Greenland. The highway would network new and existing bridges and tunnels, improving ground transportation and potentially providing a conduit for utility pipelines. However, in the Discovery Channel's "Extreme Engineering", it was noted that the Chukotka area is mostly roadless and uninhabited, and infrastructure would need to be developed completely from scratch. Chukotka is on the Eurasian side of the Bering Strait, where the highway would connect to the Americas via tunnels.
Europe
English Channel
There is no public highway connection between Great Britain and the European mainland; only a rail connection, the Channel Tunnel.
A cross channel tunnel was first proposed in 1802 and construction actually started in 1881 before being abandoned. Roll-on/roll-off ferry services provided links across the channel for vehicles.
A road tunnel was proposed in 1979, but not considered viable. Construction of the Channel Tunnel started in 1988 and the tunnel opened in 1994. Automobiles and lorries/transport trucks are loaded onto the Eurotunnel Shuttle's enclosed railway cars (similar to auto rack/motorail railway cars) for the trip through the tunnel. A service road tunnel runs the entire length of the crossing, but is closed to general use and used only during emergencies and for maintenance. Cyclists – both amateur and professional – have crossed the channel via the tunnel on special occasions.
There have been proposals at various times for a second channel tunnel of some kind.
Irish Sea
Various ferry services link Ireland to Britain and France. A number of options for an Irish Sea fixed crossing have been proposed over the years, but none are currently under serious consideration. Additionally, there was a short-lived proposal for an underground roundabout beneath the Isle of Man, connecting tunnels to Ireland, Scotland, and two to England. Another proposal was for an additional route from Scotland to the Isle of Man.
Channel Islands to France
In July 2009, the States of Jersey were considering the feasibility of building a 14-mile (23 km) tunnel between Jersey (a British Crown dependency) and Lower Normandy in France. There was a revival of the idea in 2018 and 2021. It was reported in the local media that a link between Jersey and the neighbouring island of Guernsey would cost £2.6 billion.
Kerch Strait
The Crimean Bridge is a pair of parallel bridges constructed by the Russian Federation, to span the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai and the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea. The bridge complex provides for both vehicular traffic and for rail.
Germany to Denmark to Sweden
The Øresund Bridge links southern Sweden to the Danish island of Zealand. Zealand is linked to the Danish mainland and the rest of Europe by the Great Belt Fixed Link. Most travellers between Sweden and Germany, both by road and train use the shorter route with a ferry over the Fehmarn Belt southwestwards towards Hamburg or southwards to Rostock. The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link is planned to be opened in 2029. A Gedser-Rostock Bridge is also under consideration but has been put back as the Fehmarn Belt crossing is now under construction. Proposals also exist for a fixed link from Rügen to southern Sweden, linking Berlin and the Øresund region.