Oslo – Smestad tunnel open again

Ring 3Oslo.Ring 3.Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

After being closed for nearly a year due to restoration, the normally highly trafficked Smestad tunnel in Oslo opens again this Sunday afternoon.

The tunnel was the first to be closed when Road Administration began its wide tunnel remediation project last summer. Across the country will 200 tunnels be upgraded to EU standards and modernized, in that old equipment is replaced and new security built in.
Sunday at 18 released the first cars through in both races, after Transport Minister Ketil Solvik-Olsen has spoken.
In Oslo are ten tunnels on the worklist applicable for 2015 until 2019.
When the work on Smestad tunnel  started on June the 2 last year,  it  was expected congestion and chaos in Ring 3, because the traffic had to be directed to roads with much less capacity. But traffic chaos stalled. Many of those who normally would have taken the car in the morning, chose rather to ride a bike or take public transit.
The planned construction time  in the Smestad tunnel was one year. Now it appears that the Road Administration has been able to finish a bit earlier. The reopening marked is by a nearly two-hour session at Smestad Sunday afternoon.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today