In 2010, the EuroTAP consortium, of 16 automobile clubs tested tunnels across Europe for the twelfth consecutive year. For the first time ever, an Icelandic tunnel - Hvalfjörður was included in the EuroTAP test. The 5,770 m long tunnel, opened in 1998 took last place in the quality rankings this year. First place goes to France and the innovative Duplex tunnel with its two tubes upper and lower running on top of one another.
26 tunnels in 13 European countries have been tested this year. As to the overall results, only one tunnel was rated as very poor, three were rated as poor, two as acceptable, four as good and 16 were found to be very good. In spite of this positive result, there are still many shortcomings to be tackled in the near future.
Among the most common shortcomings was the time taken to make operational fire brigades' respiratory equipment and the lack of loudspeakers necessary to provide information to motorists in case of an accident. Surprisingly, the test revealed that almost one in five tunnels has insufficient lighting and poor traffic radio reception in the tunnel. Yet most motorists take these measures for granted.
The provisions of the Directive 2004/54/EC on minimum safety requirements for tunnels located on the trans-European road network must be implemented in line with the schedule set down by the Directive, thus ensuring minimum safety standards in the European road tunnels.
Projects & Campaigns - EuroTAP - The Future of Tunnel Testing
In 2010, the EuroTAP consortium, of 16 automobile clubs tested tunnels across Europe for the twelfth consecutive year. For the first time ever, an Icelandic tunnel - Hvalfjörður was included in the EuroTAP test. The 5,770 m long tunnel, opened in 1998 took last place in the quality rankings this year. First place goes to France and the innovative Duplex tunnel with its two tubes upper and lower running on top of one another.
