[L'industrie c'est fou] In Norway, the longest tunnel reserved for soft mobility extends over 2.9 kilometers

In the age of low-carbon mobility, the longest tunnel in the world dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists was inaugurated on Monday March 6 in Bergen, Norway. From April 15, it will take about 10 minutes by bike and 30 to 45 minutes on foot, according to its promoters, to cover its 2.9 kilometers in length, with a width of 2.25 meters for the pedestrian path and 3.5 meters for the cycle lane – nothing to jostle a priori.

The project is not selfless: two parallel tunnels three kilometers long through the Løvstakken mountain have been dug. The first is used for the passage of a tram and the second, which was initially only to be an evacuation gallery, has been reconfigured to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians. 233,000 cubic meters were excavated for the first tunnel, and 133,000 cubic meters for the tunnel for pedestrians and bicycles. This combines a new infrastructure, as well as the restructuring of an old railway tunnel.

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“Bringing together existing infrastructure and new infrastructure, creating a new opportunity for urban transportation, is exciting. I look forward to this project which makes Bergen even more attractive for its citizens.”, says Per Olav Perus, assistant project manager for the Norwegian design office Amberg. The work was carried out by a Czech company specializing in underground works.

A limited temperature… at 7 degrees

Worth an equivalent of 7.1 million euros, the project is characterized, on the soft mobility side, by the presence of works of art, emergency telephones every 250 meters and a lighting system allowing to warn cyclists present in the opposite direction of the presence of individuals. No question of lingering there: the temperature will be maintained at 7 degrees. These conditions are supposed to appeal to runners, to whom the launch event will be dedicated. In the second city of the country, the choice of a tunnel is not insignificant: it rains there 240 days a year.