By lyndamyer
Following the award of the contract for the construction of the Strand–Ramstadsletta section to Skanska in June 2022, the drill&blast excavation process of the Hovik tunnel on the Strand-Ramstadsletta section of the E18 Lysaker-Ramstadsletta, has been commenced by this company and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, while in the fall it carried out the preparatory works for the Hovik tunnel excavation, with blasts in the Ramstadsletta area. Being constructed as part of the E102 Fornebukrysset–Strand contract, the remaining third of the tunnel is due to to be granted to a supplier in the summer of 2023. The total length of the Hovik tunnel is around1,950 m (of which 200 m in cut&cover) and has three lanes in each direction, whereas one lane in each direction is a public/shared use lane. The tunnel includes 14 stop areas, a technical building excavated in a 3,600 m3 chamber, 2 pumping stations to treat water in the tunnel during operation, 28 SOS niches, 7 bypasses, as well as 1 sedimentation basin. Additionally, the building of a 30m ventilation tunnel with an entrance from Ramstadsletta is the other subset of this project.
