Additional information
Minimising environmental impact
Created along the Norwegian coast in an area of natural beauty, the E39 was designed to blend in with the landscape and to reduce noise and pollution. Throughout the design and planning phase, the selection of the route, design of the road and choice of materials were all taken into account, particularly with a view to minimising the need to use scarce agricultural land on the flats along the coast.
For example, 10.5 km of the 22 km route passes through newly-built tunnels rather than the open countryside, which reduces environmental impact. These tunnels are ventilated by ducts that face away from residential areas. The routes four major bridges have also been designed with the environment in mind, and those which are located close to housing have transparent baffles to absorb sound without blocking the view.
A substantial proportion of the rock excavated to form the tunnels has been used to stabilise weak soil areas along the route, increasing the overall sustainability of the development.
A major tunnelling and construction program: statistics
Bridges: Four main bridges - total length 618 m, five passage bridges - total length 216 m, One environment-culvert - total length 168 m.
Tunnels: Six tunnels T9,5, at a total length of 9940 m (706 000 cu.m.)
Trenching = 665 000 cu.m., Blasting = 1 100 000 cu.m., Asphalt work = 80 000 tons
