If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 518

 

 

 

 

Tunnel between Bulken and Hodnaberg, Norway, ca 1950

These two Normann postcards were part of the Dick Thompson Scrapbook Collection.  They were glued onto the page and could not be removed without causing severe damage.  The caption indicates that the tunnels are on the road between Bulken og Hodnaberg.  The number 11-54-39 is found with the caption at the lower left.

 

There are over 900 tunnels in Norway with 33 of them subsea tunnels.  Until tunnels were built traveling from place to place meant taking many small ferries across fjords or trains around and over the mountains.  When we visited Norway in 2014 we drove through several tunnels including the long Eiksund Tunnel that runs under Vartdalsfjorden connecting Ørsta and Ulstein.  The tunnel is 7,765 meters or 25,476 feet long and goes 942 feet or 287 meters below sea level.  The Eiksund tunnel was part of a large project connecting several islands to the mainland and serves a population of about 40,000.  One of the most amazing things to see, for me, was a roundabout intersection in the tunnel where connecting tunnels joined the main tunnel.  When it first opened Eiksund Tunnel had a toll and the estimated usage of the tunnel was predicted to be 1,000 vehicles per day but that ended up closer to 2200.  After 6 years the tunnel was fully financed and the toll was removed.  The number of vehicles increased to 2880. At the time we drove through the Eiksund Tunnel was the deepest undersea tunnel in the world.  Since that time Norway’s Ryfast tunnel system opened in 2019.  It is slightly deeper at 958 feet or 292 meters. 

 

 

 

Tunnel entrance

 

 

 

The tunnel has colored light bars along the sides and ceiling lights.  These modern new long tunnels are much different than the old tunnels shown on the postcards.

 

 

 Tunnel between Bulken and Hodnaberg, Norway, ca 1950

The title of the photograph and the number 11-54-38 are found at the lower left of the card.

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_subsea_tunnels_in_Norway

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tunnels_in_Norway

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiksund_Tunnel