National attention has been focused on tunnel safety after the roof of the 1,765 m-long southbound Hanekleiv tunnel on the E18 in Vestfold County collapsed last Christmas. National attention has been focused on tunnel safety after the roof of the 1,765 m-long southbound Hanekleiv tunnel on the E18 in Vestfold County collapsed last Christmas. Later investigations led Statens vegvesen, Norway's Public Roads Administration, to close the Hanekleiv tunnel in both directions. Read
E-News Weekly 3/2007.
A comprehensive investigation of all tunnels on the E18 from Bergsenga in Sande to Helland south of Holmestrand, the area of Vestfold County along the Oslo fjord south of Oslo, has been ordered. Six tunnels near the Hanekleiv tunnel were assessed as having safety risks and serious weaknesses. The Løken, Bolstad, Hillestad, Bringåker, Botne and Brekke tunnels require reinforcement measures.
These tunnels are among the newest and most modern tunnels in eastern Norway, and about 17,000 cars travel through them a day. The Hanekleiv tunnel remains closed and the Løken has been closed. The Bolstad tunnel has only one lane open and the other four will be closed during renovation. Geologists found serious cracks in the tunnel and bolting is necessary. Tenders have already been invited to secure the Hanekleiv tunnel and some of the other six found unsafe (read
E-News Weekly 15/2007 & 12/2007).
The Public Roads Directorate ordered the Public Roads Administration to carry out inspections of all tunnels in the country after the Hanekleiv incident, and this report was to be complete on 11th April, 2007. The results were intended to be kept secret until May, but protests convinced authorities to air the conclusions at once.
The Hanekleiv tunnel remains closed since Christmas 2006
The Public Roads Administration announced that the conclusion of the national safety survey was that there were no other tunnels that posed a security risk. None of the others were built through mountains that had the same geological make-up as those in northern Vestfold. However, the state secretary at the Ministry of Transport said the same conclusion had been reached by an expert group composed after the Hanekleiv tunnel collapse.
But while Norwegian authorities were quick to clear the rest of their tunnels on construction grounds, the Norwegian Automobile Federation (NAF) announced that an international survey considered Norwegian tunnels to have serious safety deficiencies. Similar results came from an earlier investigation by German experts Deutsche Montan Technologie (DMT) and the Løvstakk tunnel in Bergen as well as the Nordkapp, Eidsvoll and Sollihøgda tunnels between Oslo and Hønefoss were singled out as worst risks.
But a scandal broke out when it became clear that the national tunnel inspection, ordered after the Hanekleiv collapse, was not carried out completely. In fact, over half of the tunnels in four of the five road regions across the country have not been inspected to assess the danger of collapse. Also, the Public Roads Administration in the southern region has not been able to account for the inspections carried out there.
According to a review by NRK, the radio and television public broadcasting company, at least 75 of the 139 tunnels were not inspected. In western Norway, where most of the nation's traffic tunnels are found, only four of 50 were properly checked, and none of the five regional road branches have carried out the assignment as ordered by the Public Roads Directorate.
The assignment was that they should check behind the arches in the tunnels with arches. An arch can be composed of brick ceiling work that keeps the tunnel dry, and it is here that experts must crawl to check for possible cracks in the mountain above. In some tunnels these areas are inaccessible but they must also be examined.
The Public Roads Administration estimates that it will cost at least NOK200 million to secure the seven tunnels along the E18 highway in Vestfold County. Meanwhile, figures from the Information Council for Road Traffic (OFV) indicate that it will cost NOK2 billion to bring the nation's tunnels up to top standard, Norway's largest newspaper VG reported. The main concerns are alarm telephones that do not work, lighting facilities that are out of order, ventilation systems that stop and poor road surfacing.
