Article | REF: C5575 V1

Road tunnel safety - Technical provisions

Author: Michel QUATRE

Publication date: February 10, 2012

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ABSTRACT

A large number of accidents and fires demonstrates that road tunnels are dangerous for users. Among the multitude of minor incidents which happen in tunnels, some of them can also have, through a chain of circumstances, dramatic consequences. Their early detection can prevent them from becoming real catastrophies. However, depending on the way in which the tunnel is operated, the degree of surveillance inside can vary massively. When a tunnel is being built, regulatory papers require that operators implement equipment (emergency access, smoke extraction systems, signaling, alert, etc.) which have to be designed, operated and maintained.

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AUTHOR

  • Michel QUATRE: Honorary Engineer General of Ponts et Chaussées - Chairman, Commission nationale d'évaluation de la sécurité des ouvrages routiers

 INTRODUCTION

Fires in tunnels, whether caused by accidents or not, can have catastrophic consequences for people. The fire in the Franco-Italian Mont Blanc tunnel in March 1999, followed by the accident in the Austrian Tauern tunnel in May 1999, and finally the accident in the Swiss Gotthard tunnel in October 2001, unfortunately highlighted this risk.

What's more, among the multitude of minor incidents that can occur in tunnels, some can, through a chain of circumstances, have dramatic consequences. These incidents must be detected early enough to prevent them from degenerating into disasters.

The degree of tunnel supervision varies widely from one structure to another, ranging from no supervision at all to highly sophisticated supervision where the operator is able to act very quickly thanks to the information provided by automatic accident detection (AAD) and other systems:

  • informing users and encouraging them to adopt the most appropriate behavior;

  • alerting emergency services ;

  • action on the equipment at its disposal (closing the tunnel, starting smoke extraction, etc.);

  • trigger on-site intervention by specialized operating teams and, if necessary, the fire department.

This means that tunnel operators have to implement a real safety chain, starting from an incident. It is based on a set of equipment whose design, construction, maintenance and operation must be carried out in a systemic spirit.

This article deals with the provisions adopted to design and build this equipment in the case of tunnel construction. Upgrades to existing tunnels and operating and intervention measures will be dealt with in a later article.

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