Souterrain Tram Tunnel

Urban plans to make The Hague denser (space to expand is only found inside the city, since it’s confined by sea, highway and neighbouring cities) ánd minimize traffic on street level has urged the municipality to go underground. The city had a long and difficult process developing this multistory 1250 m long underground tunnel with two stops for trams combined with 500 parking spaces. The construction floor was leaking and damaged the surroundings. So the whole tunnel was entirely flooded to keep surrounding buildings form collapsing. It got several nicknames ‘tramtanic’ and ‘swimtunnel’. Construction could only be finished under high pressure air to prevent the water to enter. After 4 years of delay, costs largely exceeded budget (130 million euro) and the Dutch government started asking questions. When finished and all ‘problems’ left behind, the project won several prizes. It definitely proved architecture can have a positive effect when applied to the rigor of transport pragmatism.