The Hvalfjörður Tunnel ( is, Hvalfjarðargöng ) 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 const ...

under the Hvalfjörður fjord in Iceland and a part of

Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...

. It is long and reaches a depth of below sea level. Opened on 11 July 1998, it shortens the distance from

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a p ...

to the western and northern parts of the island by . Passing the fjord now takes 7 minutes instead of about an hour. The tunnel was constructed by the company Spölur, while the Verkís company handled almost all of the design. Spölur was also the owner and operator of the tunnel until 2018, when ownership and administration of the tunnel were transferred as planned to the Icelandic Road Administration (''Vegagerðin''). This project was a milestone in Icelandic construction as it was the first

private finance initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 19 ...

without direct funding by the state treasury.

Construction

The construction of the tunnel was started in 1996, and completed in 1998 at a cost of about ISK 5,000 million (USD 70 million). The tunnel was designed for annual average daily traffic of 5,000 vehicles. While the sub-sea tunnel deepest point is below sea level, the deepest sea depth is , and the minimum rock coverage is .

Tolls

The tunnel is toll free as of 28 September 2018, the date when the tunnel was turned over from the private operator Spölur to the Icelandic Road Administration (''Vegagerðin''). Previously, the toll for vehicles less than in length was ISK 1,000 (USD 9.80). Motorcycles and larger vehicles paid different tolls. Pedestrians and cyclists are not permitted. The money went to pay for the construction of the tunnel by Spölur. The original plan assumed it would take 20 years (until 2018) to pay back the cost of building the tunnel, but the traffic volume has proved to be significantly higher than originally projected. The volume of traffic is so high that the operator of the tunnel has suggested building a new tunnel alongside the current one because traffic is reaching the threshold mandated by a European regulation (8,000 vehicles daily) over which traffic in opposing directions should be separated.

Safety issues

The Hvalfjörður Tunnel received a bad rating in the 2010 European tunnel test, which is carried out annually by the German automobile club

ADAC ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest motoring association. ADAC is the largest club (Verein) in Germany with around 21 million members. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mo ...

. Different aspects were criticized and are also mentioned in the EuroTAP test (see external links), especially the weak lighting, absence of an automatic fire alarm system, too weak ventilation in case of a fire and distance to the next fire station (). There are alcoves every to facilitate turning around, and the storage capacity for water leakage is . Between 2007 and 2013, several improvements to the tunnel's security were made, according to the newspaper ''

Morgunblaðið ''Morgunblaðið'' (, ''The Morning Paper'') is an Icelandic newspaper. ''Morgunblaðið''s website, mbl.is, is the most popular website in Iceland. History ''Morgunblaðið'' was founded by Vilhjálmur Finsen and Ólafur Björnsson, brother of ...

'' resulting in a doubling of the tunnel's security level. The improvements included better lighting, setting up a monitoring system, new emergency lights and more fire extinguishers.

Images

References

External links

2010 test results of Hvalfjörður Tunnel
by EuroTAP (European Tunnel Assessment Programme)
Hvalfjörður Tunnel Transportation and Planning
by Verkís {{DEFAULTSORT:Hvalfjordur Tunnel Road tunnels in Iceland Undersea tunnels in Europe Tunnels completed in 1998 1998 establishments in Iceland