Hanekleiv Tunnel

Historie

The Hanekleiv tunnel is a road tunnel in Vestfold, Norway, one of seven along the European route E18 between Sande and Holmestrand. The tunnel became the centre of controversy on 25 December 2006 when part of the roof collapsed, and investigations revealed that several tunnels on the E18 through Vestfold were insufficiently secured. The tunnel was fully reopened on August 30, 2007.Technical detailsThe tunnel is 1,765 metres long and has two tubes, one for each direction of travel and each accommodating two lanes of highway. The tunnels were opened for traffic on 30 October 2001. The rock which the tunnel is built through is frequently unstable. To compensate for this, the tunnel roof and walls were reinforced at places with bolts and concrete injections, however the tunnel was not equipped with concrete walls throughout the length of the tunnel.The E18 tunnels in Vestfold had about 17,000 vehicles pass through them each day.December 25, 2006 incidentLate on Christmas Day, about 200 cubic metres of rock fell from the ceiling of the southbound tunnel, onto the highway below. No cars were in the tunnel at the time, and there were no injuries. Debris continued to fall in the tunnel for up to three hours after the initial collapse. The debris covered a 25 meter long stretch of road, and at places the pile was almost as high as the tunnel.The police department of Southern Buskerud was tasked with investigating the avalanche. Neighbors close to the tunnel reported having noticed slight tremors and rumbles. Worries about the tunnel's safety had surfaced already during construction in 1997, when construction on the tunnel was halted so that additional security measures could be implemented.