The ''Drammen Spiral'' (

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

: ''Spiralen Drammen'') is a

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 ...

near

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and village ...

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 ...

Tunnel characteristics

The tunnel is long and in the shape of a

helix A helix () is a shape like a corkscrew or spiral staircase. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is formed as two intertwined helices, ...

, with six rising circles, in the same style as a multi-storey

parking lot A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...

. Each rotation of the helix rises , with a diameter of . The tunnel emerges at a summit above the town on Skansen Ridge, where there are parking facilities and a cafe.

Tunnel usage

From the summit, tourists can walk in the ''Drammensmarka'', the forest area surrounding Drammen. There is a road

toll Toll may refer to: Transportation * Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway ** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use ** Road toll (historic) The road toll was a historical fee charged to travellers and ...

levied for use of the tunnel, which for cars as of 2020 was

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

35, paid as a parking fee at the top. The maximum height for vehicles is . Pedestrians may not use the tunnel: instead there is a gravelled

zigzag A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. In geometry, this pattern is described as a ...

track up the hillside with seats and viewpoints. Average daily traffic in 2020 was 350 vehicles, but usage can vary from 100 to 2000 vehicles per day depending on the season.

History

Drammen city ground conditions are poor, with most buildings being founded on clay. Gravel was obtained from a quarry, but by the 1950s concern was raised that

quarrying A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

was beginning to disfigure the local landscape. Eivind Olsen was the City Engineer at the time, and he proposed the idea of tunnelling for gravel. Olsen came to be nicknamed 'Father of the Spiral Tunnel'. The community decided to tunnel for stone as an alternative to quarrying, creating a tourist attraction as a by-product. Construction started in 1953 upon closure of the quarries. Rock excavated for the tunnel was crushed and used to make a harbour embankment in the city, while stone was used in

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

. The rock is a type of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

named after the city: Drammensgranitt (Drammen granite). The tunnel was opened for traffic in 1961 by

King Olav V Olav V (; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991. Olav was the only child of King Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the Norw ...

. From October 2019 the tunnel went through extensive renovation and was closed for months. Refurbishment included numerous structural and safety improvements as well as adding coloured lighting to make the tunnel an even bigger tourist attraction. The lighting changes according to the time of day. The work cost around 10 million euros and the tunnel was officially reopened on Dec 12 2020. The tunnel is owned and operated by the Drammen Kommune (municipal administration).

In popular culture

Desmond Bagley Desmond Bagley (29 October 1923 – 12 April 1983) was an English journalist and novelist known mainly for a series of bestselling thrillers. He and fellow British writers such as Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean set conventions for the genre: ...

's 1973 novel ''

The Tightrope Men ''The Tightrope Men'' is a novel written by English author Desmond Bagley, and was first published in 1973. Plot introduction Giles Denison's life is turned upside down when he awakes to find himself in a luxurious hotel. Denison has a reputati ...

'' features a scene where the protagonist Giles Denison drives cautiously up through the tunnel and then is pursued at speed back down it by another car. The Drammen Spiral is also featured in Thapan Dubayehudi's novel, " Selah: The Jewish Avengers", in which Testarossa Abelov and Abilene Abelova drives up the Spiral to reunite with their family after 15 years. The Spiral Troll is a souvenir doll made from wood with rope coiled around it. The tunnel formerly had a carved wooden troll installed halfway up the road, but after the renovations this was replaced with a family of trolls made of wood and coiled rope.

References

External links