Skip to main content

Norway to renovate 200 tunnels

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens Vegvesen) has to renovate 200 tunnels before 1 April 2019 to meet European Union safety requirements for tunnels. Norway’s Tunnel Safety Regulations 2007 apply to tunnels on state roads that are more than 500 metres long, of which Norway has 253. Thirty of these were built after 2007 and comply with the regulations, while only around twenty tunnels built after 2007 have been renovated. The authority will present an action program for the 2014-2017 period
August 12, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (7446 Statens Vegvesen) has to renovate 200 tunnels before 1 April 2019 to meet 1816 European Union safety requirements for tunnels.

Norway’s Tunnel Safety Regulations 2007 apply to tunnels on state roads that are more than 500 metres long, of which Norway has 253.  Thirty of these were built after 2007 and comply with the regulations, while only around twenty tunnels built after 2007 have been renovated.  The authority will present an action program for the 2014-2017 period based on the National Transport Plan. It will include an overview of the tunnels and measures to be prioritised during the four-year period, says Lars Aksnes, Deputy Director General of the authority.

In many of the tunnels, only minor measures will be needed to meet the safety requirements, but some tunnels will require extensive measures, says Aksnes. These include power to emergency lighting, radio, fire-fighting equipment, new tunnel control technology, as well as the construction of new escape routes.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Low-costs solutions to improve pedestrian safety
    May 8, 2015
    David Crawford welcomes low-cost safety initiatives for pedestrians in America. Some 10 people die each week in accidents on crosswalks in the US, that’s more than 10% of all pedestrian fatalities in road traffic incidents - the number of which is running at a five-year high. Ensuring crosswalks are safe is key in supporting the growing enthusiasm for walking as a travel mode. In the last decade of the 20th century, numbers walking to work in the US fell by 26%; while, as recently as 2012, Americans were e
  • Bulgaria to get Europe’s longest road tunnel
    March 13, 2014
    The longest road tunnel in Europe will be built along the new 65 kilometre stretch of the Struma highway in Bulgaria. Two tunnels, totalling almost 37 kilometres, will be built underneath the Kresna gorge between the towns of Blagoevgrad and Sandanski. The 150 kilometre Struma highway runs from the village of Daskalovo to the Greek border and is part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor IV and the Trans-European North-South Highway. The tunnels are required for environmental reasons and will be
  • Dynamic charging boosts electric vehicles’ potential
    December 16, 2014
    With an increasing need to use electric vehicles in city centres to reduce pollution, David Crawford looks at various solutions to power delivery. The UN’s September 2014 Climate Summit has added fresh momentum to the drive to increase urban electric vehicle (EV) takeup. It has launched the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative, which wants to see EVs accounting for 30% of all urban travel by 2030, and make cities worldwide more friendly to their use. Encouragingly, the plan is being well supported by commerci
  • Norway’s central tolling system contract extended
    July 18, 2013
    The Norwegian Public Road Administration has extended its contract with Q-Free to operate the country’s central tolling system. The contract was due to expire in November 2014, but has been extended for a minimum of 7.5 months. The extension has a minimum value of approximately US$5.6 million. The CSNorway contract was initially signed in 2007 and included the development of the system and conversion of all existing systems into one common central system. Around forty different concessions are running on th