The tunnel is comprised of three main components

• Ramp and portal building on the land-side
• Immersed tunnel under the Drogden navigational channel
• Ramp and portal building on the artificial island.
  

The portal structures accommodate underground service buildings with rooms for tunnel installations for road lightning, ventilation, drainage, communications and energy supply. The buildings can be supplied from either side.

 
Towing of tunnel element from the factory to the tunnel trench in Øresund. Photo: Øresundsbron

The immersed part of the tunnel consists of 20 elements, is 176 meters long, 9 meters high and 40 meters wide. The element weight is 55.000 tonnes. Each element is made up of sections produced in factory like conditions on land and joined together by temporary pre-stressing.

The elements are placed in a pre-dredged trench and founded on bedding of sand. Backfilling along the sides and on the roof is designed to keep the tunnel in place and to offer permanent cover and protection of the tunnel under all conditions, e.g. impact of a large ship or anchor.

The sealing of all the tunnel tubes is protected by fireproof insulation and emergency installations containing fire fighting equipment and telephones.

 
The tunnel factory makes it possible to cast the tunnel-sections indoors with controlled temperature and moisture conditions. Once casted, each section is jacked out in the lock. When assembled in 176 meter elements, the giant dock-doors between element and the factory is closed, and water is pumped into the lock. Once towed into the deep end, the water is again lowered to sea level and the element is floating and ready for transport to the tunnel-alignment. Photo: Øresundsbron