Flekkerøy Tunnel

Coordinates: 58°05′13″N 07°58′56″E / 58.08694°N 7.98222°E / 58.08694; 7.98222

Flekkerøy Tunnel

The tunnel outlet at Flekkerøy
Overview
Official name Flekkerøytunnelen
Route 457
County road 457
Start Kroodden
End Flekkerøy
Operation
Opened 1989
Toll Tolls finished
Technical
Length 2,321-meter (7,615 ft)
Number of lanes 2
Operating speed 70-kilometer-per-hour (43 mph)
Lowest elevation −101-meter (−331 ft)
Below sea level
Grade 10%
Tunnel outlet north at Kroodden

The Flekkerøy Tunnel (Norwegian: Flekkerøytunnelen) is a subsea road tunnel on the county road 457 in the municipality of Kristiansand in Norway. The tunnel runs under the strait between Kroodden on the mainland and the island of Flekkerøy. The tunnel is 2,321-meter (7,615 ft) long, it reaches 101 meters (331 ft) below sea level, and the maximum gradient is of 10%. Construction start of the Flekkerøy tunnel was at August 1, 1988. The breakthrough in the tunnel was on March 6, and the tunnel was opened on 15 August 1989. It replaced a ferry connection between Møvik in mainland Kristiansand and Lindebøkilen on the island of Flekkerøy.[1] The tunnel has a strict 70 km/h speed limit.

Construction costs were NOK 87 million. Tolls were collected from the opening until July 14, 1998.[2][3]

Fire safety in the tunnel is considered as good.[4]

Speed control

There are an automatic speed control camera in both directions in the tunnel.[5] After complains the first years of driving in too high speeds, the police intensified speed traps in the tunnel. In the first half of 2009, the police exacted more than NOK 3 million speeding fines (which corresponds to NOK 16 000 each day on average) in addition to 22 police reports and 30 driver's licenses confiscated. That was despite the fact that the cameras are not activated at all times.[6]

References

  1. Aas, Sigurd (1993). Vegvesenets historie: Vest-Agder 1964-1989. Kristiansand: [Vegsjefen i Vest-Agder]. page 67, 169, 272-273.(Norwegian)
  2. Flekkerøytunnelen www.flekkeroy.no (Norwegian)
  3. Amundsen, F.H:Trafikkmessig oppfølging av:...Flekkerøytunnelen Norwegian Public Roads Administration Oslo, 1991 (Norwegian)
  4. Her brenner det i Flekkerøytunnelen Fædrelandsvennen (Norwegian)
  5. Automatisk trafikkontroll i Buskerud, Vestfold, Telemark, Aust-Agder og Vest-Agder Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Norwegian)
  6. Terje Andersen: Pengesluket Article in Fædrelandsvennen Motor wednesday 16 september 2009, page 9-10. (Norwegian)
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 17, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.