Hvalfjörður Tunnel

The Hvalfjarðargöng is a road tunnel in Iceland.

This toll tunnel shortens the way around the fjord is almost 50 km. It was designed and built by Icelandic companies and triggers a car ferry between the port of Reykjavik and Akranes from. The construction in 2002 was awarded the most outstanding Icelandic engineering feat of the decade 1991-2000.

Within 10 years, 14 million vehicles have been registered so is the utilization of the single-tube tunnel over the planned 5000 vehicles in 24 hours. 2008 passed 5500 vehicles within 24 hours of the tunnel, which is overloaded by carrier information for 6000 vehicles. Therefore, the operator Spölur has submitted an application for a second tube at the Ministry of Transport on 11 July 2008. Test drilling for the new, parallel tube were successful, and the operator was hoping for completion by 2014. The cost of the project were set at ISK 6.5 to 7.5 Milliarden (54 to 63 million euros ).

Safety concerns

At the European Tunnel Test 2010 ADAC the Hvalfjarðargöng was the only of the 26 tested tunnel in 13 countries rated " poor" and thus finished last.

In the coming years, many improvements of the discovered security flaws are planned, including an automatic extinguishing system, improved video monitoring, new wiring of emergency lighting and additional emergency alarms with fire extinguishers. The work should be completed by 2014.