A tech firm boss has said there is “no room for error” as what is set to become the longest and deepest underwater road tunnel is built in Norway. Project Rogfast will run between Randaberg and Bokn. It is a crucial part of the country’s E39 highway upgrade, which is predicted to reduce travel time by 40 minutes between the cities of Stavanger and Bergen.
Burkhard Boeckem, Chief Technology Officer at Hexagon, whose technology guides partner firm Skanska is constructing the subsurface roadway, told the Express that the E4 Stockholm Bypass is a “powerful example of how advanced measurement and data visualisation technologies provide companies like Skanska with the insights needed to take on the most complex and ambitious infrastructure projects”. He added that 3D scanning of real-world spaces helped engineers create digital models and detailed images, making measuring and validating progress at every step possible.
Mr Boeckem also emphasised that complex infrastructure projects “require precision in construction” and the Rogfast tunnel – drilling a tunnel from two sides in Norway and meeting up with another team in the middle – is a prime example.
The CTO said: “There is no room for error under the sea. Skanska uses Hexagon’s technologies as its eyes in the tunnel to enable accurate alignment, reduce rework through real-time data capture, and power safe operations under extreme conditions.”
He added: “Delivering such a project is an extraordinary engineering challenge.
“Getting it right the first time requires innovative technology and meticulous planning.”
The Rogfast tunnel will be approximately 27 kilometres long and reach depths of nearly 400 meters below sea level.
Skanska is working on the northern part, while Implenia Norge is responsible for the southern part.
“In a project like this, even a millimetre of misalignment can trigger cascading risks,” Trond Valleur, Vice President of Skanska, said.
“Hexagon’s technology gives our teams the confidence to move forward with accuracy, efficiency, and safety. That precision, and our shared drive to push boundaries, is what makes this partnership so powerful.”
The road from Stavanger to Rennesøy already two underwater tunnels, Byfjordtunnelen and Mastrafjordtunnelen, which were built as a part of the Rennfast project in the 1990s, but these are starting to get old, locals say, and the traffic in them is undivided, which makes it possible to cross into oncoming traffic, causing safety concerns.
They are also “very steep which is not ideal for large trucks”, one person wrote on Reddit.
They added: “There is also a lot of commuting traffic coming from Rennesøy and Mosterøy into Stavanger, when Rogfast is built this traffic will be separated from the long distance traffic, which will hopefully reduce the amount of accidents in the old Rennfast tunnels.”
