Hvalfjörður Tunnel

Hvalfjörður Tunnel
	South entrance
Overview
Location	Western Region and Capital Region, Iceland
Route	1
Operation
Work begun	1996
Operator	Spölur
Traffic	Automotive
Vehicles per day	5,600
Technical
Length	5,770 m (18,930 ft)
No. of lanes	2-3
Highest elevation	15 m (49 ft)
Lowest elevation	−165 m (−541 ft)
Grade	8.1% (max.)

The Hvalfjörður Tunnel (Icelandic: Hvalfjöarðargöng) is a road tunnel under the Hvalfjörður fjord in Iceland and a part of Route 1. It is 5,770 meters (18,930 ft) long and reaches a depth of 165 meters (541 ft) below sea level. Opened on 11 July 1998, it shortens the distance from Reykjavík to the western and northern parts of the island by 45 kilometers (28 mi). Passing the fjord now takes 7 minutes instead of about an hour.

Spölur was the company that constructed, and is now the owner and operator of the tunnel, while the Verkís company handled almost all of the design. This project was a milestone in Icelandic construction as it was the first private finance initiative without direct funding by the state treasury. It is also the only tunnel where tolls are charged.

Construction

The construction of the tunnel was started in 1996, and completed in 1998 at a cost of about ISK 5,000 million (USD 70 million). The tunnel was designed for annual average daily traffic of 5,000 vehicles.

While the sub-sea tunnel deepest point is 165 meters (541 ft) below sea level, the deepest sea depth is 40 meters (130 ft), and the minimum rock coverage is 40 meters (130 ft).

Tolls

Currently (Feb 2016) the toll for vehicles less than 6 meters (20 ft) in length is ISK 1,000 (USD 7.60).^[1] Motorcycles and larger vehicles pay different tolls. Pedestrians and cyclists are not permitted. This money goes to pay for the construction of the tunnel by Spölur, and when the investment has been fully repaid the tunnel will become the property of Vegagerðin.

The original plan assumed it would take 20 years (until 2018) to pay back the cost of building the tunnel and that the tunnel would be turned over to the state at that point, but the traffic volume has proved to be significantly higher than originally projected. The volume of traffic is so high that the operator of the tunnel has suggested building a new tunnel alongside the current one because traffic is reaching the threshold mandated by a European regulation (8,000 vehicles daily) under which traffic in opposing directions should be separated.^[2]

Safety issues

The Hvalfjörður Tunnel received a bad rating in the 2010 European tunnel test, which is carried out annually by the German automobile club ADAC. Different aspects were criticized and are also mentioned in the EuroTAP test (see external links), especially the weak lighting, absence of an automatic fire alarm system, too weak ventilation in case of a fire and distance to the next fire station (28 meters or 92 feet). There are alcoves every 500 meters (1,600 ft) to facilitate turning around, and the storage capacity for water leakage is 2,000 cubic meters (71,000 cu ft).

Several improvements are announced for future years.