UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson Wants To Put An Underground Roundabout Under The Isle Of Man

When we talk about the Isle of Man on Jalopnik, we're generally talking about the Isle of Man TT, but today, the little isle is involved in something even wilder: an underground roundabout.

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has been talking about underground tunnels for years, but this one is probably his most audacious. Because not only is this an underground roundabout, but it involves underwater tunnels intended to connect Northern Ireland to Scotland and England.

The original reporting of this comes from The Sunday Times, but if you don't happen to have a subscription to a UK-based paper, here's a tweet with the proposed image:

The proposal would involve not just one but three different tunnels under the Irish sea, all of which would meet beneath the Isle of Man. And while aides are calling the plan "batshit," there are apparently actual smart people working on this to see if it's actually feasible. Despite that, another aide said this plan exists "primarily in the mind of the PM." But Johnson is so into the idea that it "cannot die." Whew.

It's an audacious plan to begin with, but somehow it's more acceptable than the previous tunnel option, which would have connected Stranraer, Liverpool to Larne, Northern Ireland. That initial idea would have required the tunnel to dig through Beaufort's Dyke... which also happens to be the dumping ground for 1.5 million tons of munitions during World War II. I can't say that would be a particularly enjoyable route to dig.

So, here we are. With the three tunnels that all meet up under the Isle of Man. With the whole Brexit situation going on, the UK is totally cut off from the rest of Europe, and Northern Ireland is cut off from the UK. A link between the countries would be a symbolic act of unity, especially when the little island has adopted an us-against-the-world mentality. But it is certainly one hell of a way to achieve that goal.