Due to projected costs and engineering obstacles, plans to build a bridge or tunnel connecting Scotland and Northern Ireland have been ruled out.
When a report investigating whether such a project is feasible is revealed next week, it is anticipated to advise against moving with any plans.
According to reporters, the government will accept the report’s recommendations.
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has been an outspoken backer of a permanent link between the two countries.
According to the Telegraph, transport expert Sir Peter Hendy, who was commissioned by the government to look at links between different regions of the UK, decided that the project was not currently practicable.
Sir Peter had looked at the price of a fixed link to Northern Ireland, according to a government source, and determined “it would be technically very tough at the present.”
“That’s not to say it won’t become practical in the future,” the insider told the outlet, “but it would be extremely difficult and expensive right now.”
According to news outlets, the Department of Transport said: “We don’t comment on rumours. The Union Connectivity Review will be released in the near future.”
Plans for a connection between Northern Ireland and Scotland have been in the works since the 1890s.
Mr Johnson has previously characterized a bridge as a “quite fascinating notion” and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) reintroduced the proposal in its 2015 general election programme.
Some analysts predict that such a project would cost £15 billion, while others say £20 billion is a conservative estimate.
A connection from Portpatrick to Larne, or from near Campbeltown to the Antrim coast, has been mooted.
Northern Ireland’s Infrastructure Minister, Nichola Mallon, declared in September that the “distraction of a £20 billion permanent bridge, or three tunnels and a roundabout beneath the sea” had been “finally put to rest.”
“We all know what we could accomplish with £20 billion around this table for infrastructure and our communities,” she remarked.
