Norway’s longest subsea tunnel is part of mammoth road scheme
16 June 2021NPRA – the Norwegian Public Roads Administration – is inviting contractors, subcontractors and consultants to an online information meeting concerning the E39 Ålesund-Molde road improvement project which includes the construction of the country’s longest subsea tunnel. The meeting will be held over Microsoft Teams on 21 June.
The aim of the project is to improve the road standards and long-term upgrading of the 75km-long E39 which connects cities along Norway’s west coast. Three ferry crossings will become obsolete as a result of the works, with the aim being to tie Molde and Ålesund together as one residential and labour market. One of the main components of the multi-faceted project is a 14.5km subsea tunnel.
The NPRA said it has planned a contracting strategy with a wide range in the size of contracts: up to 25 are spread over five project divisions. In addition to road improvement works, the largest contracts are for the Romsdalsfjord Tunnel and Julsund Bridge – each around 3-4bn kroner (US$360m to US$480m). Both will have four traffic lanes. The smallest contracts will amount to a few tens of millions of kroner for preparatory construction works.
“This is a good and important project. We have divided it into a significantly higher number of contracts than the number of plan sections," said project manager Harald Inge Johnsen of the NPRA. “We expect ample response from the market.”
The new road could open as early as 2030.
More information can be found at https://www.doffin.no/en/Notice/Details/2021-340379
