As the big metropolitan areas of the world tend to have very intense traffic, densely built areas and high property costs, construction of inner-city road tunnels often is recognised as efficient way to solve traffic problems.
Construction of innercity road tunnels took place in USA already in 1920ies, when in New York under Hudson River and city quartals there was constructed Holland Tunnel, 2 608 meters long. Detroit – Windsor Tunnel linked USA and Canada in 1930, it is 1 572 meters long.
Construction of innercity road tunnels nowadays becomes increasingly popular and technologies for construction of such tunnels constantly improve. Such tunnels often cross rivers or bays in central areas of cities by chance crossing also innercity areas to divert innercity traffic. But over the last time it becomes increasingly popular to construct road tunnels just for crossing or bypassing innercity areas.
Here we list selected large scale innercity road tunnel construction projects:
A. Madrid bypass Calle 30, Madrid, Spain
One of the most impressive signs for growing economical power of Spain is the new innercity bypass Madrid Calle 30. Total length of the new innercity highway will be 99 km, where 56 kilometers will be subterranean. Total costs of project – 3,7 billions EUR.
Largest tunnels in this system are:
Southern tunnel (by-pass sur). Total length of bored tunnel – 7 212 m, additional 632 m – cut and cover tunnel. Two parralel tunnels, each having three lines. Estimated costs – 792 mio EUR.
Northern tunnel (tunel norte) – total length of tunnel – 8 374 m, where 4 187 m – bored tunnel. Costs – 722 mio EUR.
Connection of Northern tunnel to A-1 highway – 4 463 m long tunnel, costs - 474 mio EUR. http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/m30_madrid/
B. A86 Western Tunnel, Paris, France
This ~ 10 km long two floor tunnel will close the Paris ringroad A86. Costs – 2 230 mio EUR. This tunnel will be used both by cars and railway after it will start operating in 2010.
http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/a86/
C. Dublin Sea Port Tunnel, Dublin, Ireland
Circa 4,5 km long double tunnel, two lines in each tunnel. Costs - 752 mio EUR, scheduled opening – December 2006.
http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/dublin_sea/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Port_Tunnel
D. Westerschelde tunnel, near Amsterdam, Netherlands
6,6 km long double tunnel, running under the sea, two lines in each tunnel. Was completed on March 2003, costs - 726 mio EUR. Warranty period for this tunnel – 100 years.
http://www.westerscheldetunnel.nl/index.cfm?language=en
http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/westerschelde/
E. Uetliberg Tunnel, Zurich, Switzerland
Switzerland is characterised by outstanding mountain tunnels but Zurich City is getting impressive innercity tunnel as well. Total length – 4,4 km, double tunnel with two lines in each direction. Goal of construction – comfortable bypass along the western side of city. Costs ~ 700 mio EUR, to be completed in middle 2008.
http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/uetliberg_tunnel/
F. River City Motorway (North – South Bypass), Brisbane, Australia
There is planned 3,4 km long tunnel, where 2,9 km is bored tunnel. Municipality of Brisbane signed concession agreement on April 2006. This agreement envisages 45 years long concession after the end of construction. Costs – 1,92 billion EUR
http://www.rivercitymotorway.net.au/index.php
G. Serebrjanij Bor tunnel, Moscow, Russia
This 1 505 m long double tunnel will be used both by cars and metro/subway. Tunnel is bored under nature reserve – it comes rather close to the surface sometimes but does not create any disturbance.
H. SMART tunnel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
There is constructed 9 450 m long tunnel under the capital of Malaysia which will be used both by cars and for stormwater drainage. This tunnel has three floors. If the storm water level will rise fast, traffic would be closed but tunnel will ensure that city is not flooded. To be completed in March 2007, costs – 400 mio EUR.
http://www.smarttunnel.com.my/
Large innercity road tunnels are built in US cities (Boston, New York, San Francisko), in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth), in Great Britain, Japan. Large road tunnel is constructed also in Prague, Czech Republic.