Motorists on Haukelifjell were stuck in the tunnels for eight hours – news Vestland

At 14:00 on Thursday, a convoy of 40 cars got stuck on the west side of the Haukelitunnelen. It effectively stopped the traffic over Haukelifjell. – I left Bærum at seven o’clock today early, to avoid this, and then I arrived seven cars too late to reach down from the mountain. That’s what Margit Ramsrud says, who was on her way west to Suldal. She had been standing and waiting at the front of the queue in the Haukelitunnel since 3pm. At 11 p.m. she was still there. Fearful one night in the tunnel Ramsrud says that many of the motorists in the tunnel spent one night in the Haukelitunnelen. She told news that the tunnel mouth directly in front of her was covered by at least one meter of snow. She spends her time playing solitaire and watching series. She says that they have received bad and contradictory information, and that she has been unsure whether they will come down from the mountain before nightfall. The road was only reopened for convoy driving at some point on the night of Friday, the road traffic center reports. Margit Ramsrud is one of the many motorists who have stood in the Haukelitunnelen since 3pm. Photo: Privat 40 stuck in the snow At 9 p.m., plow crews finally reached the tunnel opening in the west. Then the wind blew hard and the snowdrifts were large. Olav Stana manages the plowing crew at the plowing station at Haukeliseter. He says that the wind increased from 16 to 24 meters per second in three to four minutes. – When a car first gets stuck, it only takes a few minutes before the other cars get snowed in, and we have to free every single car. In all the tunnels at Haukelifjell there have been cars waiting. At 21:00 there were 35 cars heading west in the Haukelitunnel. The Norwegian Road Administration is helping them down now. – Now I empty the mountain of cars and go on with cutters and trucks, and try to keep a lane open. The tunnel opening to the west of the Haukeli tunnel was closed on Thursday afternoon by a “snow wall” up to two meters high. Photo: Margit Ramsrud



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