A Place to Stand

  The Faroe Islands are run, autonomously, by Denmark. They are roughly mid way between Scotland, Iceland and Norway. They have a population of 49,276.

  They also have 18 separate tunnels connecting their communities and islands. This is the same number as I have proposed and the Scottish government have refused within Scotland. OK I grant most of mine are dual carriageways and average longer but then again Scotland's population is over 100 times larger.

Here is the list
Hvalbiartunnilin 1963 1,450 4,760 Hvalba and Trongisvágur

Árnafjarðartunnilin 1965 1,680 5,510 Klaksvík and Árnafjørður One of the pair of Borðoyartunlarnir that connect Klaksvík with the eastern side of Borðoy and with the island Viðoy. Single lane, no lights.
Hvannasundstunnilin 1967 2,120 6,960 Árnafjørður and Hvannasund/Norðdepil One of the pair of Borðoyartunlarnir. It has only a single lane and no lights. There's one priority direction, with a series of passing places on the other side.
Sandvíkartunnilin 1969 1,500 4,900 Sandvík and Hvalba
Norðskálatunnilin 1976 2,520 8,270 Norðskáli and the valley Millum Fjarða
Leynartunnilin 1977 760 2,490 Leynar and the valley Kollfjarðardalur
Villingardalstunnilin 1979 1,193 3,914 The villages Trøllanes, Mikladalur, Húsar and the uninhabited valley Djúpidalur One of the five Kalsoyartunlarnir
Ritudalstunnilin 1980 683 2,241 The villages Trøllanes, Mikladalur, Húsar and the uninhabited valley Djúpidalur One of the five Kalsoyartunlarnir
Mikladalstunnilin 1980 1,082 3,550 The villages Trøllanes, Mikladalur, Húsar and the uninhabited valley Djúpidalur One of the five Kalsoyartunlarnir
Trøllanestunnilin 1985 2,248 7,375 The villages Trøllanes, Mikladalur, Húsar and the uninhabited valley Djúpidalur One of the five Kalsoyartunlarnir
- 1979–85 220 720 The villages Trøllanes, Mikladalur, Húsar and the uninhabited valley Djúpidalur One of the five Kalsoyartunlarnir
Leirvíkartunnilin 1985 2,238 7,343 Leirvík and Gøta
Kunoyartunnilin 1988 3,031 9,944 Kunoy and Haraldssund
Kollfjarðartunnilin 1992 2,816 9,239 Kollafjørður and Kaldbaksbotnur
Sumbiartunnilin 1997 3,240 10,630 Sumba and Lopra
Vágatunnilin 2002 4,940 16,210 Leynar and Fútaklett
Gásadalstunnilin 2006 1,445 4,741 Gásadalur and Bøur
Norðoyatunnilin 2006 6,186 20,295 Klaksvík and Leirvík
Hovstunnilin 2007 2,435 7,989 Øravík and Hov

   Looking at the longest - the recently completed Norðoyatunnilin (Northern Isle's Tunnel) of 6,300 m, which is 2.5 times the length of current Forth Bridge. It connects the city of Klaksvik, pop 4615 with the mere town of Leirvik pop 876. Which sets Edinburgh, presumably a mere village, in its place.

Norðoyatunnilin
 
   So, bearing in mind that John Swinney said we couldn't cut a Forth tunnel for under £6.6 billion, how much did this tunnel cost. £395 million Danish Kroner which is £45.4 million, (£6.9 million per km) - more expensive than Norway, but then as anybody in the Scottish Highlands knows, costs in remote areas go up with "the freight" and this is very remote compared to even the most remote part of Scotland.. It is still 0.068 of what the Scottish government say they can do a tunnel,  half the length but dualled, for beside the capital city.
 
   Apart from the general pleasure of poking fun at our parasitic political numptocracy who are incapable of matching the achievements of communities less than 100th as large, is the fact that the Norwegian achievement has been matched elsewhere. Norway and Denmark are separate countries, albeit both Scandinavian (a club Salmond is eager to shoehorn Scotland into)and if they can both do it nobody can credibly claim it can't be done here.
 
  If the will is there.
 
  I know that Mike Russell's public support for tunnels is based on having seen the Faroes example. Perhaps all the Hollyrood MSPs, or at least the Transport Committee, should go and see the reality the civil servants say is impossible for themselves.
 
 Google Faroe tunnels images