The municipality of Primošten, Croatia, will build a submarine tunnel between the New Riva and the other side of the coast, in the Porat bay.
The mayor of Primošten, Stipe Petrina, said: “We are talking about a panoramic pedestrian tunnel with transparent walls, which will be 60 meters long and 6 meters wide, which would lie at 18 meters below sea level at the deepest part of the sea floor in Porat. That’s all I can tell you about the project, for which some conceptual solutions have already been developed, and we know what it will look like.”
There will be catering and other facilities at the entrance and exit of the underwater tunnel.
The panoramic tunnel will be another tourist attraction added by the area, after a monument to Our Lady of Loreto on Mount Gaj attracted tourists when it was built in 2017.
Petrina said: “The idea was to build a pedestrian bridge in the area of the Porat harbor, but this would make the maritime traffic underneath it more difficult. We concluded then that it is best to build a tunnel that will be deep enough under the sea so that the biggest ships can be driven above it, and the price of the tunnel construction will be roughly the same as if we were to build a bridge.”
Underwater attractions
It won’t be the first underwater attraction. Earlier this year, an underwater theme park was announced for Bahrain, where divers can explore themed areas including a submerged Boeing 747.
Last year, the Underwater Museum of Art (UMA) opened off the coast of Florida. Divers can see sculptures and artificial reefs 50 feet underwater. And in December, the Bolivian government announced plans to build an underwater museum, which will preserve archaeological sites submerged in Lake Titicaca.
MUSA (Museo Subacuático de Arte) was launched in 2009 in the waters around Cancun and now boasts over 500 sculptures.
Meanwhile the Museo Atlántico, off the coast of Lazarote in Spain features around 200 life-size human figures, some modelled after local residents. The first part of the project is already attracting angel sharks, barracuda and octopus. It also contains a botanic garden.
Image for illustration purposes – courtesy Sander van der Wel
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