Fugro bags E39 geotechnical contract
12 January 2018Norway – Geotechnical investigation company Fugro has been awarded a year-long contract to carry out seabed investigations at four fjord locations in Norway. The work will inform foundation designs for the bridge and tunnel sections of the major E39 Coastal Highway project.
The contract is valued at NOK 76M and the total project cost to the client, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration is NOK 340bn.
The 1,100km road project is looking at above and below sea level tunnels; an end-anchored floating bridge; a submerged floating tube bridge; and multi-span suspension bridge are amongst the innovative solutions being considered by NPRA to provide an improved E39 without ferries (currently seven ferries are used along the route). The new Coastal Highway will be almost 50 kilometres shorter and will cut in half the current journey time of around 21 hours.
A Fugro spokesperson said of the contract, “[It] is split into two phases. Phase 1 encompasses geophysical mapping of the fjord-crossing areas and two vessels will be used to acquire geophysical and shallow geotechnical data. Survey vessel Fugro Helmert will cover shallow, nearshore areas to acquire multi-channel sparker data. From the second vessel Fugro will acquire detailed geophysical data in the deeper parts of the fjords using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and will also undertake seabed sampling and cone penetration testing.
“With a planned start date of August 2018, phase 2 will see Fugro perform geotechnical drilling at selected locations as defined by the geophysical data acquired in the first phase. For deeper geotechnical drilling during phase 2, the high-tech drillship Fugro Synergy will be introduced.”
This work is in addition to a 12-year environmental measurement programme relating to the major route, won by Fugro in 2016.
