The Lærdal Tunnel became the longest road tunnel in the world when it opened 20 years ago, on November 27, 2000, when it crossed the Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland by almost eight kilometers, holding the 16.9-kilometer primacy since September 1980. One of the points of interest is that there is no toll in it.
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The Norwegian Parliament decided to build the tunnel in June 1992, construction began on March 15, 1995, was breached in September 1999 and ceremoniously opened in November 2000 in the presence of King Harald V. The tunnel, nine meters wide and 6.3 meters high, is at a depth of up to 1.4 km below the surface, it cost 1.08 billion Norwegian kroner (about 46.6 billion crowns). A maximum of 400 cars can pass through it per hour.
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The tunnel, which connects the municipalities of Lærdal and Aurland, is part of the E16 road, which is the northern link between Oslo and Bergen. The tunnel greatly simplified the journey between Lærdal and Aurland, where drivers had to wait for a ferry before.
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Towards Aurland, the tunnel has a rise of 2.1% of almost 12 km, the middle part of about six kilometers has a slope of 0.7% towards Lærdal, the part of Lærdal has a slope of about six kilometers of 2.7%. The slope of the tunnel is important in that it naturally ensures the drainage of seeping water.
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One of the portals of the Lærdal Tunnel
Photo: Profimedia.cz
The tunnel is perfectly lit and an emergency telephone is placed every 250 meters. It has a fire station every 125 meters. Furthermore, three huge caves, in which it is possible to stop and rest for a while, but mainly in them, large vehicles can turn in case of fire. If necessary, the drivers of the light boards will guide such a maneuver. There are a total of fifteen places to turn large vehicles.
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Ventilation is provided by huge fans that blow fresh air from both sides. The only opening through which the air flows out is in Tynjadlen. The tunnel is complemented by an air filtration unit that traps dust, soot and nitrogen oxides from vehicle exhaust. It is also equipped with radio and mobile signal lines.
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The longest tunnel in the world since 2016 is the Gotthard railway tunnel in Switzerland, which measures over 57 kilometers.
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In the Czech Republic, the longest tunnel since 2018 is the Ejpovice tunnel near Pilsen, which measures 4.15 kilometers. The longest road tunnel with a length of 3.09 kilometers since 2015 is the Bubeneč Tunnel, which is part of the Prague tunnel complex Blanka (which measures a total of 5.5 kilometers), which consists of three separate, adjacent tunnels.
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