By About two thirds of the primary lining installation and excavation on the 2km Zheleznitsa twin-tube motorway tunnel in Bulgaria are now completed.
Set on the Struma motorway, the US$111m project is going to become Bulgaria’s longest road tunnel and is being built using NATM (the New Austrian Tunneling Method).
Excavation in twin tubes is progressing in simultaneous advances from north and south ends of about 1.5-2m/day. It is followed instantly by early lining installation using sprayed concrete, rockbolts and anchors. From the north end, early lining installation has reached 680m in the right tube and 670m in the left tube. From the tunnel’s south end, 790m of early lining has been installed in the left tube, and 706m in the right tube.
Last year, in October 2019, the construction has been began with sites operating on a 24/7 basis. The Global Construction (48%), GP Group (48%) and Via Plan (2%) JV is constructing the project for Bulgaria’s RIA (Road Infrastructure Agency). The EU Cohesion Fund and the Bulgarian government have been financed the program.
