Norway advances Ryfast mega-project
1 July 2014
Peter Kenyon, TunnelTalk
- Norwegian Highways Authority Statens Vegvesen awards the two remaining contracts for drill+blast construction of the world’s longest subsea road tunnel as part of the Ryfast mega-project. The awards bring the total value of all four tunnel construction contracts to €734.7 million.
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Drill+blast progress by Marti on Contract E02 is 1,500m
- Lot number E05, the 5.7km long twin bore four-lane Hundvåg Tunnel linking the exit ramps to be excavated to the surface on the island of Buøy, and the Eiganes E39 Stavanger bypass tunnel on the mainland, is awarded to the Kruse Smith AS (Norway)/Risa AS (Norway) joint venture for the contract sum of €125 million. The JV narrowly missed out on the first contract to be let on the 23.9km subsea tunnel project - the E02 eastern 7km section of the Solbakk Tunnel between Tau and the island of Hidle, which was awarded to Marti Contractors in May last year (2013) for a contract sum of €172.4 million.
- Lot number E04, the 3.7km long twin bore Eiganes Tunnel in Stavanger from which there will be access to the Hundvåg and Solbakk undersea tunnels across the straits to Tau, is awarded to the Bilfinger (Germany)/Strangeland (Norway) JV for a contract sum of €299 million. Project scope includes construction of the north and south portals. It remains to be seen which company will actually end up working the contract in JV with Strangeland, because since award was made Bilfinger has announced it is withdrawing entirely from civil tunnelling. Existing contracts that it holds are to be sold as a going concern when the tunnelling division is sold over the next 12 months.
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Contracts E04 and E05 awarded on Ryfast mega-project
- Construction is well under way since the award last year (2013) of Contract E02 Solbakk Tunnel western section to Marti Contractors. “Since August last year we have reached 1,500m in both tubes, which has included several grouting sessions,” Marti Production Manager Roadworks Bartosch Goly told Tunneltalk from Norway. Encountered geology so far is gneiss, with difficult ground conditions and weathered zones.
- “The traffic relocation on the temporary bridge was successfully completed in November for crossing the state road with our conveyor belt, which is now installed in the tunnel and is up and running. The subsea drive has not started yet but we have reached a depth of 95m below sea level.”
- The alignment runs from just south of the town of Tau, then under the town itself for about 1.5km before veering west on a subsea heading. At 290m below sea level at its deepest point Contract E02 is the deepest tunnel of the four that combine to comprise the Ryfast project, and when completed the Marti-bored tunnel will be both the deepest and the steepest in terms of gradient in Norway.
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Conveyor system installed for Contract E02
- “Actual ongoing works are restricted to tunnelling related activity at present but we are in preparation for the road and inner lining works which will start in Autumn,” said Goly. “We are using drilling jumbos from Sandvik (DTi series 1131 and 921) fitted with the iSure system and we are very satisfied with the performance of these. Our wheel loaders and excavators are supplied by Volvo.”
- Construction of the 6.5km long E03 western section of the 14.3km long Solbakk Tunnel was awarded to AF Gruppen (Norway) in June last year (2013) for a contract sum of €138.3 million, with construction beginning in August. Contract scope includes construction of four tunnel portals and a 100m long bridge. The contractor is reported to have made 700m of progress.
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Gallery -
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First award on record-breaking Ryfast – TunnelTalk, May 2013
Tendering for world-longest subsea road tunnel – TunnelTalk, January 2013
New undersea mega-project for Norway – TunnelTalk, May 2012
Norway's mega-project to tender in Autumn – TunnelTalk, June 2012
Links across the waters: Straits Crossings conference report – TunnelTalk, January 2010
Bilfinger to withdraw from civil tunnelling – TunnelTalk, June 2014
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