Norway’s tunnels face safety concerns

Many of Norway’s road tunnels face safety concerns.
By MJ Woof December 30, 2020 Read time: 1 min
A large number of Norway’s road tunnels do not meet current European safety requirements – image courtesy of © Sjankauskas, Dreamstime.com

A number of road tunnels in Norway face safety concerns. An evaluation of the country’s network has shown that 68 tunnels forming part of the European road system do not meet current European safety requirements.

Upgrading these tunnels so that they meet safety requirement has been described as highly necessary by the European Free Trade Associations surveillance body, ESA. According to the ESA, the Norwegian Government has to prioritise the improvement works.

The road tunnel improvement programme is already underway, but the upgrade work will take several years to complete.
Maintenance

Related Content

  • Work starting on Norway’s mega-tunnel project
    January 5, 2018
    Construction is now commencing on Norway’s Rogfast tunnel mega-project on the E39 route between Bergen and Stavanger. The project will cost around €1.8 billion to construct according to some estimates. The new project will set several world records as it will be the longest and deepest undersea road tunnel ever constructed, measuring 27.3km and reaching a maximum 392m below the sea bed. Once the new tunnel opens to traffic in 2025 or 2026 it will reduce the travel time between Bergen and Stavanger, in the
    Read More
  • Concern at European road safety issues
    March 24, 2015
    The European Commissioner of Transport, Violeta Bulc, has announced EU road safety statistics for 2014 that give some cause for concern. In 2014 there were a total of 25,700 road deaths across all 28 Member States of the EU. Road fatality figures differ widely among Member States. The figures indicate only a 1% improvement since last year, meaning that significantly more effort will be needed from Member State governments in order to reach the Commission's goal to halve the number of road deaths between 201
    Read More
  • TISPOL: drink driving continues to be a pan-European concern
    January 18, 2016
    Drink-drive enforcement still has issues in Europe, according to pan-European police body TISPOL Drink-driving is the cause of around 5,000 road deaths in Europe. In the UK alone, it is estimated that 230 (14%) of the country’s 1,713 road deaths are due to drinking and driving. For England, Wales and Northern Ireland the limit for driving is still 80mg (0.8) of alcohol/100ml of blood. Scotland reduced its limit to 50mg (0.5) of alcohol/100ml of blood in December 2014, bringing it into line with most
    Read More
  • Norway moves toward more E39 coastal road improvements
    April 4, 2019
    Norway is working on plans to make more of the major north-south E39 coastal route a ferry-free highway, coasting €35.3 billion, according to media. In Norway, the trans-European route 39 is part national road system and is developed and maintained by the public roads administration. It runs for 1,330km along the coast from Klett just south of Trondheim to Nørresundby. Norway’s E39 is mostly a two-lane undivided road with only relatively short sections near Stavanger, Trondheim and Bergen being motorw
    Read More

Highlighted Content