The case in summary: The new Krokatunellen in Kvinnherad, which is supposed to protect people against landslides, has been unused for half a year. Commuters and others must still drive on the landslide-prone section on the outside of the tunnel. The opening of the tunnel has been postponed due to new interpretations of the regulations and requirements for the installation of a system to automatically detect fire in the tunnel. The changes in the requirements for safety in the tunnels have been made by the Directorate of Roads, in consultation with the Ministry of Transport. The tunnel has now been granted a use permit with conditions, and the plan is to open to traffic before the public holiday. It is unclear how traffic will be affected when the work to install the new system is started. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – It is irritating. Every month after the tunnel is finished, schoolchildren, commuters and others still have to drive the old road. I don’t understand that. Jan Gunnar Strand has had the experience of getting rocks on the roof when he has driven on the landslide-prone section. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news Jan Gunnar Strand is the daily manager of the company Ænes Incubator and commutes from Ullensvang to Kvinnherad. The avalanche-prone section of county road 500 is the only fixed road out and in from Kvinnherad. – We have 26 employees, and almost all of them commute. It has been close, with rock falls and landslides. I myself have had stones hit the roof of the car. County road 500 is exposed to rock, ice and snow avalanches. Here from a landslide, which occurred in March 2023. Photo: Police Many residents contact the municipality The project to secure the road between the Folgefonntunnel in Ullensvang and Årsnes in Kvinnherad was approved in 2021. The 1,400 meter long Crokatunnel constitutes the largest part of the project, which has a cost of NOK 450 million. The opening of the tunnel has been postponed several times. Mayor of Kvinnherad, Vegard Bjørnevik (H), is fed up. – Already this winter it was possible to drive through the tunnel. Many residents contact the municipality. They question the risk of driving in the landslide-prone area. – It is difficult to understand that one does not use common sense and get the tunnel opened as soon as possible, believes Bjørnevik. Mayor of Kvinnherad, Vegard Bjørnevik (H), believes the sensible thing is to get traffic into the tunnel as soon as possible. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news New requirements for safety in the tunnels New interpretations of the regulations means that the opening of the Krokatunellen has been postponed. A system must be installed to automatically detect fire in the tunnel. Until that is in place, the county has now received an interim licence. The plan is to open to traffic before the public holiday. Project manager in Vestland County Municipality, Bjørnar Eidsnes, will not be interviewed, but will answer news’s questions in writing. It is unclear what time work on the system will start or how it will affect traffic. – It is likely that traffic management or night closures will be controlled during the installation. Since this requirement is new, I have no more information at the present time, writes Eidsnes. In the comments section and among people, it is rumored that the tunnel is also built too narrow. Eidsnes rejects that. – I can confirm that the tunnel is not too narrow. Road improvement and avalanche protection are underway between the Folgefonn tunnel in Ullensvang and Årsnes in Kvinnherad. Photo: Oddgeir Øystese / news It is the Directorate of Roads, in consultation with the Ministry of Transport and Communications, that has changed the requirements in the regulations dealing with safety in tunnels. – In short, it is about ensuring that those tunnels that do not have video surveillance from the Road Traffic Center have another system to automatically detect fire, says Lisa Bakken Vikan, who is section leader in the Road Directorate. The changes also affect the process of approving the Mettevolltunnel on the E6 in Nordreisa in Troms, according to Vikan. – It is not the case that the tunnels are unsafe today, but with the fulfillment of the requirement, safety in the tunnels will be even better. The entire response from the Road Directorate “In short, it is about ensuring that the tunnels that do not have video surveillance from the Road Traffic Center have another system to automatically detect fire. Due to questions from the industry regarding the understanding of section 2.14.2 annex 1 of the Tunnel Safety Regulations, we had a thorough review of this requirement just over a year ago, also against adjacent requirements that have an impact on this requirement. In June 2023, we sent a letter to the Ministry of Transport, where we asked for their assessment of the interpretation we had arrived at. In December 2023, we received a response from the Ministry of Transport, which agreed with our assessment. Based on this, we sent letters to all road administrations earlier this year, where we informed them of this change in the understanding of the requirement. This letter has led to some new questions about practical handling in ongoing approval processes, therefore we have sent out a new letter about it this week, in addition to dialogue with Vestland county council (Krokantunnelen) and Nye veier (E6 Mettevolltunnelen) which are most directly affected pdd regarding ongoing approval processes. The requirement as such has therefore not changed, and we cannot therefore specify an effective date for the change, but the development projects (and the tunnel managers for tunnels in operation) will still have time to make the necessary improvements. This applies to both tunnels that are under construction and tunnels that are in operation today. It is not that the tunnels are unsafe today, but with the fulfillment of the requirement, safety in the tunnels will be even better.” Lisa Bakken Vikan, head of the construction engineering section at the constructions department in the Directorate of Roads Published 21.06.2024, at 07.16
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New tunnel is unused – people have to drive on dangerous roads – news Vestland
