Norway is one of the countries in the world that has the greatest length of tunnels on its road network. The total number of tunnels is 990 with a total combined length of 850 km. As the population is small, the traffic density is very modest in most of these tunnels. Norwegian tunnels have much less traffic than road tunnels in the rest of Europe. Almost all tunnels (about 99%) are owned by the government. The Public Roads Administration is the administrative authority of all tunnels in Norway. The local fire brigades, in accordance with national rules, are the inspection body for fire safety in the tunnels. The Public Roads Administration operates all of the tunnels from five control centres. The centres detect and monitor incidents, traffic flow and pollution. In the case of an accident, they are authorized to stop traffic and initiate a response from the emergency services. Most of the tunnels are built to a relatively basic standard, and have little safety equipment. In spite of this, statistics show that there are few accidents in Norwegian road tunnels. Self rescue has always been the main philosophy in safety planning in low traffic tunnels. Fortunately, up to now, there has not been a fire with dramatic consequences in any Norwegian tunnel. Contractors are responsible for the maintenance of the tunnels. During the last decade reinvestments and improvement of installations have made up a very high percentage of the annual costs for maintenance and operation. The need for refurbishment will increase even further in the next 10-15 years with the introduction of new and stricter rules. Guidelines for the construction and safety improvements are based on experience from operation and maintenance, as well as the results of research. For the covering abstract see ITRD E135448.
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