The Assignment
E39 Rogfast is an important road link that will contribute to creating a common residential and labor market for Nord-Jæren and Haugalandet.
The Solution
The tunnel project is groundbreaking in terms of tunnel length and includes the construction of a junction in the middle of the tunnel for the exit to Kvitsøy. The junction, featuring a roundabout within the tunnel, is located at an elevation of -250 m.
Ventilation and Emergency Considerations
The main challenges related to the project's scale involve managing ventilation both during normal operations and in emergency situations such as accidents and fires. Statens vegvesen’s tunnel manual N500 primarily applies to tunnels up to 10 km in length. A design guideline will be prepared for the project, outlining design principles for all work outside the tunnel, ensuring that modern road construction requirements for space and design in a vulnerable coastal landscape at Kvitsøy are met.
Design Innovations and Aesthetic Enhancements
Inside the tunnel, an art project will be developed to prevent monotony, alleviate tunnel anxiety, shorten the perceived travel time, create a sense of orientation, and foster recognition. Additionally, the decoration will help “open up” the tunnel space, and the use of dynamic lighting may lead to solutions that are adaptable and ever-changing.
The work includes necessary preliminary projects, tender documentation with offer drawings and bidding descriptions, as well as working drawings and data for construction. The assignment also covers the planning and design of the tunnel branch to Kvitsøy, and the planning and design of daylight zones in Randaberg, Kvitsøy, and Bokn.
All data, in addition to drawings, will be delivered as 3D data/BIM.
The goal is for the project to be as sustainable as possible by identifying possible measures to save energy, reduce material consumption, harvest energy (wind, solar, waves, and geothermal), and implement further actions to improve ecology and agriculture in the project area.
This work has been titled Rogfast Pluss. Norconsult coordinates the work on the plus project and will present a report documenting the measures needed to put the project in the plus category. The process resulted in a reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, energy harvesting, reduced material usage, and improved facilitation for organic farming.
The work of gathering ideas to achieve maximum sustainability is characterized by a high degree of creative thinking. Established solutions and the frameworks that otherwise characterize the Rogfast project have been challenged to “turn over every stone” in an attempt to find the good ideas that can contribute to realizing the vision of Rogfast Pluss.
The implementation of the project is dependent on the construction of a tunnel branch from the island of Kvitsøy, which lies between Harestad and Bokn. The tunnel will be operated from three locations, resulting in a construction period of approximately 8 years from the start of the first main contract in 2021 from Kvitsøy. Most of the tunnel excavated material is planned to be placed in marine disposal sites at Harestad, Kvitsøy, and Bokn.
The Result
The project has a construction start for the first main contract in the autumn of 2021.
According to the plan, it will set several world records:
- become the world’s longest underwater road tunnel for regular traffic (approximately 27 km)
- the world’s longest four-lane road tunnel (approximately 27 km),
- the world’s deepest four-lane road tunnel (-392 m),
- and the world’s deepest road junction (-200 m).
