The Lærdal Tunnel () is a road tunnel connecting the municipalities of

Lærdal Lærdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Lærdalsøyri. The old Filefjell Ko ...

and

Aurland Aurland () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located on the south side of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The administrativ ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

; the southwest end of the tunnel is approximately northeast of Bergen. It carries two lanes 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 ...

, and was the final link completing the main highway that now enables car travel between

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

and

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

with no ferry connections and no difficult mountain crossings during winter. It is the longest road tunnel in the world, the second being

WestConnex WestConnex in Sydney, Australia is the largest and longest road tunnel in Australia, with a length of 22 km. A joint project of the New South Wales and Australian Federal governments, the motorway scheme created around motorway with 6-10 lan ...

in Sydney, Australia. In 1975, the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

decided that the main road between Oslo and Bergen would run via

Filefjell Filefjell is a mountainous area in Norway. It is located between Lærdal in the Vestland county and Valdres in Innlandet county. It is the historical, as well as modern, main route, linking Western Norway and Eastern Norway. The European route E1 ...

. In 1992, Parliament confirmed that decision, added that the road should run through a tunnel between Lærdal and Aurland, and passed legislation to build the tunnel. Construction started in 1995 and the tunnel opened in 2000. It cost 1.082 billion

Norwegian krone The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including List of possessions of Norway, overseas territories and dependencies). It was t ...

r ($113.1M USD). Beginning in 2025 and for around four years, the tunnel will be completely closed for fourteen hours each night for upgrades to meet recent changes to EU safety regulations. Alternative routes such as road 50 are available, but are slower and often closed in winter.

Design

A total of of rock was removed from the tunnel during its construction from 1995 to 2000. The tunnel begins just east of

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 fjor ...

, goes under a mountain range, and ends south of

Lærdalsøyri Lærdalsøyri is the administrative centre of Lærdal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located along the Lærdalselvi river where it empties into the Lærdalsfjorden, a branch off of the main Sognefjorden. The village is lo ...

. Its design takes into consideration the mental strain of driving through a long tunnel; it is divided into four sections, separated by three large mountain caves (with parking areas available) at intervals. While the main tunnel has white lights, the caves have blue lighting with yellow lights at the fringes to give an impression of sunrise. These caves are meant to break the monotony, providing a refreshing view and allowing drivers some relief. They are also used as turnaround points, and as break areas to help alleviate

claustrophobia Claustrophobia is a fear of confined spaces. It is triggered by many situations or stimuli, including elevators, especially when crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and hotel rooms with closed doors and sealed windows. Even bedrooms with a l ...

during the 20-minute drive through the tunnel. In the tunnel, there are signs every kilometer indicating how many kilometers have already been covered and how many still to go. To alert drivers who become inattentive or start to fall asleep, each lane is supplied with a loud

rumble strip Rumble strips (also known as sleeper lines or alert strips) are a traffic calming feature to alert inattentive drivers of potential danger, by causing a tactile vibration and audible rumbling transmitted through a vehicle's wheels into its inte ...

towards the centre.

Safety

The tunnel does not have emergency exits; however, there are many safety precautions in case of accident, fire, or other emergency. Emergency phones marked "

SOS SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...

" are installed every for contacting

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

fire department A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organi ...

s, and

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

Fire extinguisher A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which ha ...

s are placed every . Whenever an emergency phone is used or a fire extinguisher is lifted, stop lights and electronic signs reading (English: turn and exit) are displayed throughout the tunnel, and electronic signs at the entrance show (English: tunnel closed). There are fifteen turnaround areas that accommodate buses and semi-trailers. In addition to the three large caverns, emergency niches have been built every . There are photo inspections; security centres in

and

keep a count of all vehicles entering and exiting the tunnel. Wiring is installed so that

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

s and

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

s do not lose service while inside the tunnel.

Speed cameras A traffic enforcement camera (also a red light camera, speed camera, road safety camera, bus lane camera, depending on use) is a camera which may be mounted beside or over a road or installed in an enforcement vehicle to detect motoring offense ...

have been installed because of serious speeding. There are very few other completely straight roads in the region.

Air quality

High

air quality Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

in the tunnel is achieved in two ways:

ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Respirator, a ma ...

and purification. The Lærdal Tunnel is the first in the world to be equipped with an air treatment plant, located in a -wide cavern about northwest of

. Air from the tunnel is drawn into the plant by two large fans, particulates (dust and soot) are removed by an electrostatic filter, and

nitrogen dioxide Nitrogen dioxide is a chemical compound with the formula . One of several nitrogen oxides, nitrogen dioxide is a reddish-brown gas. It is a paramagnetic, bent molecule with C2v point group symmetry. Industrially, is an intermediate in the s ...

is removed by a large carbon filter. In addition, large ventilation fans draw fresh air in through both entrances, and air from the middle of the tunnel is expelled through a ventilation shaft to Tynjadalen.

Media gallery

Alfa Romeo 147 tunnel.JPG, A car parked in one of the tunnel caves Laerdalstunnel cave.jpg, View of one of the caves Lærdalstunnel.jpg, One of the Lærdalstunnel caves has blue and yellow lighting Lærdalstunnelen – der längste Straßentunnel der Welt.JPG, North portal Laerdalstunnelen.jpg, South portal

References

External links

World's longest Tunnel Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laerdal Tunnel Aurland Lærdal Road tunnels in Vestland 2000 establishments in Norway Tunnels completed in 2000 European route E16 in Norway