Why do tunnels through mountains not collapse with the weight of thousands of tons of rock on top of them?

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I know there can be cave-ins where a slice of rock is sheared off of the inside of the tunnel, but as far as I know tunnels don’t just outright crumble and collapse. Why not?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The shape of the tunnel basically deflects all the crushing power to one side or the other like sticking an umbrella under a waterfall.

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