The Fløyfjell Tunnel ( no, Fløyfjelltunnelen) is a

road tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

in the city of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The tunnel goes through the Fløyfjellet mountain massif between the city neighborhoods of

Sandviken Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 39,234 inhabitants in 2019. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...

and

Kalfaret Kalfaret is a neighborhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The neighborhood is located in the borough of Bergenhus, just north of the Store Lungegårdsvannet bay, east of the city centre. The area is an affluent neighborhood, ...

. The tunnel was built to provide a fast route around the city centre. The twin-tube tunnel was built in the late 1980s as part of the city's

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

network, and is part of the main route between the borough of

Åsane Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre. Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on t ...

and the rest of the city. Each of the tubes carries two lanes of traffic on the

European route E39 European route E39 is the designation of a north–south road in Norway and Denmark from Klett, just south of Trondheim, to Aalborg via Bergen, Stavanger and Kristiansand. In total, there are nine ferries, more than any other single road in Eu ...

European route E16 European route E16 is the designation of a main west-east road through Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Sweden, from Derry to Gävle, via Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, previously by ferry to Bergen, Voss, through the Gudvanga Tunnel and th ...

. The two tubes differ slightly in length; the southern tube, which carries southbound traffic, is long and was opened in 1988, while the northern tube is long and was opened the following year. The traffic through the tunnel is increasing rapidly. In 2007, the average daily traffic was 41,707 vehicles, up from 34,779 vehicles in 2000. The

speed cameras A traffic enforcement camera (also red light camera, speed camera, road safety camera, road rule camera, photo radar, photo enforcement, Gatso, safety camera, bus lane camera, flash for cash, Safe-T-Cam, No contact apprehension camera depending ...

in the tunnel detected this section of road to have the most speeding vehicles in all of

county.

Incidents

The Fløyfjell Tunnel has been named the most-frequently closed tunnel in Bergen. During 2010 for example, it was closed a total of 216 times. In July 2011, a car crash occurred inside the Fløyfjell Tunnel. A man was driving the car south when he crashed into the mountain wall, suffering only minor injuries. The local police were notified by witnesses and arrived promptly, and subsequently closed the tunnel. It remained closed for several days, causing a problem for local residents.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Floyfjell Tunnel Road tunnels in Bergen European route E39 in Norway 1988 establishments in Norway European route E16 in Norway Tunnels completed in 1988