Norway is carrying out a series of road tunnel upgrades. So far 86 of the 131 road tunnels in Norway that form part of the TEN-T routes have had the necessary improvement works required.
The tunnel upgrade programme is being administered by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens Vegvesen). The work has seen 170km of Norway’s TEN-T tunnels being improved, with a further 100km of TEN-T tunnels still to benefit.
Norway has 45 tunnels of 500m or longer that still have to be improved so that they will meet the EU Tunnel Safety Directive. Of these, 20 tunnels will be replaced. Upgrading or replacing these 45 remaining TEN-T tunnels (which extend a total of 100km) will cost a total of €524 million.
The current EU Tunnel Safety Directive was introduced following a number of disastrous fires involving multiple fatalities in European road tunnels. The improvements include installing new emergency escape facilities for drivers as well as additional fire warning and fire control technology.
