INTERNATIONAL | ROAD TUNNELS
MILESTONES FOR ROADS
Milestones were passed recently on three of many significant highway and road tunnels projects around the world - Silvertown in UK, Yellow River in China, and Rogfast in Norway. We offer snapshots
SILVERTOWN, LONDON In 2024, Riverlinx CJV completed construction works for connections between the open cut approaches and the twin-tube bored section of the Silvertown road tunnel, running below the River Thames in London. A complete transformation of the tunnel shape was needed to connect the bored circular tunnel to the cut-and-cover tunnels with arch-shaped cast insitu concrete linings. To construct the four transitions – one at the end of each of the parallel tubes – the contractor used self- propelled, self-erecting formwork for rebar installation and concreting. After sufficient curing, the shutters folded inward and were transported for concreting on the next transition site. Riverlinx CJV includes Ferrovial Construction, BAM Nuttall and SK ecoplant, and the client is Transport for London (TfL). Silvertown tunnel is to open in 2025.
JINAN, YELLOW RIVER, CHINA A 57.4-ft (17.5m)-diameter Herrenknecht Mixshield TBM ‘Shanhe’ is to drive a large single tube road tunnel in Jinan, China. The tunnel under the Yellow River will operate with bi-directional traffic, three lanes in each direction. Geology along the route below the river comprizes clay, sand and silt, and the Mixshield TBM will also face groundwater pressure up to 7.5 bar. The machine was manufactured by Herrenknecht subsidiary Herrenknecht Tunnelling Machinery (HTM), in China, and includes a specially designed slurry circuit, and it has a telescopic camera to monitor tool change and the face.
ROGFAST, NORWAY Norway is building the world’s longest subsea road tunnel, in the form of the Rogfast project with Statens Vegvesen (Norwegian Public Roads Administration - NPRA) as the development agency. Located near Stavanger, the project has been procured in three main civils lots and each involves significant use of drill and blast method. Two lots come out from the opposite coastlines while the third package is located in the middle of a fjord, on Kvitsøy island, as access point for the central weave of tunnels, approximately 230m below sea level. The E02 Kvitsøy lot was recently awarded to a JV of Implenia and Stangeland Maskin, their second package on the giant project. Rogfast is to be open to traffic around 2030.
44 | Spring 2025
Top: Connections finish at Silvertown tunnel PHOTO CREDIT: TFL/RIVERLINX CJV Centre: TBM ‘Shanhe’ set for Yellow River project, China PHOTO CREDIT: HERRENKNECHT Above: Rogfast subsea road tunnel in Norway involves extensive drill and blast work below an island in a fjord PHOTO CREDIT: NPRA
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