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.

Related Content

  • September 15, 2016
    Øresund bridges the front line for border crossing traffic
    Timothy Compston considers the challenges faced by the operators of the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, the largest structure of its kind across Europe. In light of the concerns about the ongoing security threat and the unprecedented flow of migrants, many of the countries that make up the Schengen Area in Europe have re-introduced border controls. For its part, Sweden has rolled out ID checks for train, bus and ferry passengers from Denmark placing the landmark Øresund Bridge very much on the fr
  • June 2, 2016
    Making cars safer for vulnerable road users
    Richard Cuerden considers measures to improve the safety of vulnerable road users. The competitive nature of the car market has seen an increase in protection for those travelling inside the vehicle and this is reflected in the casualty statistics -but the same does not apply to those outside the vehicle. And with current societal trends such as ageing populations, an increasing number of pedestrians and cyclists encouraged by environmental policies, this is an area that authorities such as the European Uni
  • December 16, 2013
    First Norwegian OBU order for Kapsch
    Beginning in the first of quarter 2014, Kapsch TrafficCom is to supply on-board units (OBUs) for Norway’s electronic toll collection system, AutoPass. The Norwegian Public Road Administration, which is responsible for the Norwegian public road network, is currently adapting the standards for on-board units to the European norm EN15509 and will replace the native AutoPass OBUs that are currently in use. Along with Norbit, Kapsch is one of two companies that successfully demonstrated its experience and te
  • January 10, 2013
    Need for simpler urban tolling solutions
    A common assumption, even amongst informed observers, is that there’s but a handful of urban charging schemes in operation around the world and scant prospect of that changing any time soon. Larger city-sized schemes such as Singapore, London and Stockholm come readily to mind but if we take a wider view and also consider urban access control and Low Emission Zones (LEZs) then the picture changes rather radically. There is a notable concentration of such schemes in Europe but worldwide the number is comfort