The Gudvanga Tunnel ( no, Gudvangatunnelen or ) is located in the municipality of

Aurland Aurland () is a municipality in the county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Aurlandsvangen. Other villages include Bakka ...

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 the ...

. The tunnel connects the village of

Gudvangen Gudvangen is a village in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is a popular tourist destination and is located at the end of the Nærøyfjord where the Nærøydalselvi river empties into the fjord. The European route E16 highway p ...

, at the head of the

Nærøyfjord The Nærøyfjord (or ''Nærøyfjorden'', ) is a fjord in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The narrow fjord is a branch of the large Sognefjord, and it is featured on the "Norway in a Nutshell" daytrips for tourists. The long fj ...

, with the

Undredal Undredal is a small village in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The popular tourist destination of Undredal is located along the Aurlandsfjorden which is a branch off the massive Sognefjorden in Norway's "fjord-country." It sit ...

en valley and is part of

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 ...

. At in length, it is

's third longest 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 ...

. It was opened on 17 December 1991.

Nearby tunnels

After passing through the Gudvanga Tunnel, drivers pass through a number of other tunnels. About east of the eastern exit from the Gudvanga Tunnel a new tunnel begins: the long Flenja Tunnel which ends at

Flåm Flåm is a village in the Flåmsdalen valley which is located at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjorden, a branch of Sognefjorden. The village is located in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. In 2014 its inhabitants numbered 350. ...

. Approximately after that tunnel is the Fretheim Tunnel. About further to the east (near

Aurlandsvangen Aurlandsvangen () is the administrative center of Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the east side of the Aurlandsfjorden (a branch of the main Sognefjorden) where the Aurlandselvi river flows into the fjo ...

) is the entrance to the long

Lærdal Tunnel The Lærdal Tunnel ( no, Lærdalstunnelen) is a road tunnel connecting the municipalities of Lærdal and Aurland in Vestland county, Norway, and located approximately northeast of Bergen. The tunnel carries two lanes of European Route E16 and r ...

, which is the world's longest road tunnel. This means that in a section of the E16, of that distance consists of tunnels.

Fires

In August 2013, a truck caught fire in the tunnel, resulting in 55 people being hospitalised. In August 2015, a tourist bus caught fire from the exit. In March 2019, a truck burned down about from the tunnel entry.

References

External links

Photo with sign showing the length.Road authority annual report. See page 25.
Aurland Road tunnels in Vestland 1991 establishments in Norway European route E16 in Norway Tunnels completed in 1991 {{Vestland-geo-stub