Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Can Boris Johnson’s Scotland to Northern Ireland bridge be built? Ocean engineering expert says yes — if we’re willing to think crazy

Boris Johnson wants to build a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Boris Johnson wants to build a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

An ocean engineering expert has said plans for a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland may appear “crazy” but are feasible.

Dr Masoud Hayatdavoodi, a lecturer in fluid mechanics at Dundee University’s school of science and engineering, said the technology now exists to build such a bridge.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson first mooted the idea of a bridge in 2018 and his spokesman confirmed this week that the feasibility of a Celtic Crossing between Northern Ireland and Scotland is being investigated.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

It is estimated it would cost between £15 billion and £20 billion to construct a bridge.

Two likely crossing points have been suggested. The first would connect the Mull of Kintyre to the Antrim coast, while the second option would go from Portpatrick to Larne. However, this would have to cross the 300 metre deep Beaufort’s Dyke, where around 1 million tonnes of munitions were dumped after the Second World War.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the money would be better spent elsewhere, given the complexities that would be involved in construction.

But Dr Hayatdavoodi said building a bridge is possible, although he could not say whether £20 billion would be enough to complete the project.

He said: “I don’t know anything about the plans but it is feasible in the sense we have the technology and it has been used before.

“Is it easy? Absolutely not – it is going to be challenging.”

Dr Massoud Hayatdavoodi, engineering academic at Dundee University.

Dr Hayatdavoodi said the “geotechnical” issues surrounding the crossing would need to be addressed.

These include wind, tide and allowing for ships to pass through where necessary.

Every idea that could change your life for the better seems crazy at first.

Dr Massoud Hayatdavoodi

But he said: “The water is only 100 to 150 metres so it is not too deep. So they could use big piles to build it or a floating structure, which you wouldn’t feel when you are driving across it.”

And he pointed to the example of the 600-mile Norwegian coastal highway as an example of what engineering can achieve.

The Celtic Bridge being proposed by Boris Johnson would offer motorists an alternative to Irish Sea ferry services — but at a suggested cost of up to £20 billion.

The route intends to replace the need for ferry crossings by creating a highway that crosses fjords using  tunnels as well as floating, suspensions and cable-stayed bridges.

Dr Hayatdavoodi said: “Every idea that could change your life for the better seems crazy at first.”

Queensferry Crossing

Regarding the closure of the Queensferry Crossing this week, Dr Hayatavoodi said wintry weather should have been given more consideration while the £1.3 billion bridge was being designed.

He said: “It’s not the first time this has happened and it’s not the first bridge it’s happened to.

“This has happened in many places in the world – Sweden, Denmark, Japan, the USA.

“I would expect weather conditions to be one of the parameters you must consider when you are designing a bridge.”