In the late 1980s construction began on the Great Belt Fixed Link, a bridge and tunnel system connecting Zealand and Funen via the small island of Sprogø. The largest engineering project in Danish history, it consisted of the East Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting Zealand and Sprogø that has one of the longest spans (5,328 feet 【1,624 metres】) in the world; the East Tunnel, a 5-mile (8-km) railway tunnel; and the West Bridge, a rail and road bridge (4.1 miles 【6.6 km】) linking Sprogø and Funen. The tunnel opened in 1997 and the bridges the following year.