Lærdal Tunnel

road tunnel, highway E16, in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway

Key facts

Location: Vestland , Norway
Route: E16
Opened: 27 November 2000
Operator: Norwegian Public Roads Administration
Character: Road
Toll: None
Vehicles per day: 2,050 (2019)
Length: 24.51 km (15.23 mi)
Operating speed: 80 km/h (50 mph)
Highest elevation: 265 m (869 ft)
Lowest elevation: 5 m (16 ft)
Width: 9 m (30 ft)
Grade: 2.5%

Article

The Lærdal Tunnel (Norwegian: Lærdalstunnelen) is a 24.51-kilometre-long (15.23 mi) road tunnel connecting Lærdal Municipality and Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway; the southwest end of the tunnel is approximately 117 kilometres (73 mi) northeast of Bergen. It carries two lanes of the European Route E16 highway, and was the final link completing the main highway that now enables car travel between Oslo and Bergen with no ferry connections and no difficult mountain crossings during winter. It is the longest road tunnel in the world, followed by Tianshan Shengli Tunnel in Xinjiang, China and WestConnex in Sydney, Australia.

History