Features

Sprayed waterproofing: 'hot topic' Sprayed waterproofing is a hot industry topic, and a paper presented at the recent North American Tunnelling Conference not only discussed this method for achieving a dry tunnel but also how it can reduce build costs and construction time.

The second tube of the Pfänder Tunnel, Bregenz, Austria, where the new main tunnel has been excavated using a tunnel boring machine (TBM), is being constructed by Alpine BeMo Tunnelling. Tubbings have been installed as the inner tunnel lining, and as part of concreting for the inner shell, the FQ 1 crosscut, suitable for vehicles, is being constructed using a tunnel formwork carriage designed and supplied by PERI.

Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard highlights that the key importance of rural roads in the context of global development is only now being fully recognised, is not receiving enough attention and is facing vital new challenges

Safety in tunnels is of paramount importance, and in 2014 the European Union will be introducing new safety rules for such structures. As in other parts of the world, many tunnels under construction will be built to high standards incorporating the latest technologies. Many others are being upgraded, including the Elbetunnel, Hamburg, Germany, where the first tunnel under the River Elbe was built in 1911.

Some of the bottlenecks on the multi-lane Mittlere Ring, Munich, Germany, one of the main arterial roads circling the city centre have been eliminated by the addition of new tunnels. The Luise-Kiesselbach Square, the last section of this road improvement effort, is an important traffic hub south-west of the city where motorways A96 from Lindau and A5 from Garmisch meet, causing long delays in daily rush-hour traffic, writes Patrick Smith.

The future financing of the European road network has again become a hot topic in Brussels

The northern Spanish city of Bilbao looks set to benefit from a major tunnel construction project aimed at reducing traffic congestion on its vehicle clogged streets. The city is building a new underground metro section, Line 3, which will help carry commuters to and from the city's commercial centre and help reduce vehicle journey times on the surface. This project is also making use of the latest piece of tunnelling equipment from Sandvik, the MT520 roadheader, a powerful machine designed and built at

German firm Wirtgen is to begin marketing its concrete slipforming machines in the US, through its Wirtgen America operation. The move comes with the launch two new concrete slipformers developed just for the US market, the SP15 and SP25.