EuroTAP to Assess 150 Road Tunnels in EuropeSince 1999, EuroTest, the joint test organisation of the European automobile clubs, investigates the safety level in road tunnels throughout Europe. During its seven previous years, EuroTest has analysed a total of 200 tunnels in Europe. Nearly one third of the investigated tunnels presented a too low safety level and failed in the tests. Many of these tunnels have been improved. In January this year, EuroTAP (European Tunnel Assessment Programme) was launched in Munich at a symposium organised by ADAC (German automobile club) and ÖAMTC (Austrian Automobile and Touring Club), taking over from EuroTest. The EUR4.2 million programme is financially supported by the European Commission, with EUR1.5 million. In addition, the partnership of twelve automobile clubs in ten European countries gives the project significant impact. In a giant test programme, the safety condition in 150 tunnels across Europe will be investigated until 2007. The objective is to ensure that the European Directive for road tunnels will be followed. Visit www.eurotestmobility.com/eurotappub.phpThe results gained in the frame of EuroTAP for the first 50 tunnels investigated this year have been published end of April and presented at the 3rd International Conference on Traffic and Safety in Road Tunnels held in Hamburg on 18th-20th May, 2005. The tests at every tunnel have been carried out by independent experts from German company Deutsche Montan Technologie (DMT), who visited the tunnels last February and submitted them to a checklist of 274 questions. Reports will be handed over to the administrations and operators so that they can correct the shortcomings if they estimate relevant. Visit www.dmt.deAmong the main safety parameters that have been tested, we find the closure to heavy vehicles and dangerous goods, traffic control at the tunnel entrance, traffic lights and barriers at the portal, automatic control and supervision of the ventilation, video monitoring, emergency lane all the way in the tunnel, fire extinguishers every 100 metres, and access to rescue vehicles both through an external route and the emergency exits. The EuroTAP study analysed 49 tunnels in 14 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland). A total of 18 were rated "very good", 14 were rated "good", nine "acceptable", four "poor" and four "very poor". The best tunnels are two, the Ottsdorf tunnel (1,940 m) in Austria, located between Linz and Graz, and the Markursberg tunnel (1,575 m) in Luxembourg. Then follow the Plasina tunnel (2.3 km) in Croatia and the Dekani and Kastelec tunnels in Slovenia, 2,190 m and 2,292 m in length. The worst rated tunnel is the Roccaccia tunnel in Italy. The best ratings have been granted to tunnels recently built, equipped with the best security and emergency management systems, automatic fire detection, monitoring of events in the tunnel, emergency exits and escape ways well signalled, special anti-fire ventilation programmes and adecuate communication devices. The tests have given, by and large, encouraging results, showing a trend to refurbish existing tunnels to comply with safety and prevention standards. In this European survey, only 8 tunnels (16%) received a negative rating. Visit www.adac.de/Tests/ReisetestsIn Germany, a total of seven tunnels were tested, one of which - the Ruhr expressway tunnel (1,005 m) on the A 40 - was rated "poor".Four of the six tunnels analysed in Austria scored "very good" (Ottsdorf, Graebern, Plabutsch and Semmering), one was rated "good" (Spering tunnel in St. Pankraz) while the 2,135 m Ganzstein tunnel on the Semmering motorway S 6 in Styria rated "poor". Tenders for the rehabilitation of this tunnel and construction of a second tube have just been invited. Click at/19. Visit www.oeamtc.at/tunneltestsIn Spain, according to the study of the Spanish Royal Automobile Club (RACE), the Madrid Barajas tunnel, on the M-111 under Barajas airport, is the best in Spain and sixth in Europe. This 2.6 km tunnel, inaugurated in 2002, features good signing and lighting, excellent fire protection systems with its own fire brigade capable of a first intervention in less than three minutes, four entrances/exits, and a comprehensive monitoring and control system, without blind spots. Also, it is closed to the transport of dangerous goods and is equipped with a sunshade system at the exits to avoid that drivers be dazzled as they exit the tunnel. It has been rated "very good", like the Txorierri-Ugasko tunnel (1,073 m) and Txorierri-La Salve tunnel (1,190 m) in Bilbao. The Santa Maria de la Cabeza tunnel in Madrid (846 m), inaugurated in 2003, scored "good". Its emergency exits, directly to the street, the short distance between the extinguishers or clear signs showing their location make it a high level structure. The survey also underlined its weak points, among which daily traffic jams and the absence of shoulders in case of breakdown or emergency. The San Juan tunnel in Alicante, 1,840 m in length, was already tested in 2002 and was then rated "very poor". Nevertheless, a series of improvements has been made, mainly with regard to emergency exits, so that it now scores "good". On the other hand, safety has been assessed "acceptable" in the Miravete tunnel in Caceres (1,195 m) and the Cerrado de Calderon tunnel in Malaga (769 m) but "poor" in the Los Barrios tunnel in Leon 1,614 m). Visit www.race.es/pdf/nota_prensa_tuneles2005.pdf and www.racc.esThe Automobile Club of Italy (ACI) has tested five tunnels. The San Pellegrino, Quarto and Roccaccia tunnels got the lowest ratings among all tested. The Roccaccia tunnel (1,840 m), on the Orte-Ravenna expressway, is the most dangerous, with negative ratings in almost all the checked areas. The other two tunnels which failed the tests are the San Pellegrino tunnel (1,085 m) and the Quarto tunnel (2.6 km), both also on the Orte-Ravenna expressway. The Piedicastello tunnel (960 m), on the A22 Modena-Brenner, and the Monte Barro tunnel (3.3 km), on the SS 36 near Lecco, received good ratings. The Piedicastello tunnel got positive ratings, above all, for the lighting system, ventilation and traffic management while the Monte Barro tunnel has a good electric power generation and lighting system. However, all the Italian tunnels tested this year have poor communications. Click here to see the Italian results. Visit www.aci.itLiverpool's Mersey Kingsway tunnel (2,244 m) - which narrowly missed being the first in the UK to be awarded the top-rated "very good" standard - was the only UK tunnel to appear in this year's report. The AA Motoring Trust says work to improve some of Britain's road tunnels, rated poor in previous official safety assessments, is still some way off. Major refurbishments on London's Blackwall tunnel, rated "very poor" in 2003, will not start until November 2006. Click uk/18. Improvement work at the Rotherhithe tunnel will not begin until May 2007. The Tyne tunnel in Newcastle, also rated "poor" in 2003, is some way off getting a recommended second tunnel to separate traffic flows. Tenders are under way for construction of this second tube. Click uk/36.Five of the six tunnels tested in Switzerland were rated "good" or "very good" and one "acceptable". Visit www.tunnel.tcs.ch and www.tcs.chBesides the comprehensive tunnel tests, EuroTAP will continue the campaign "Safe in a Tunnel" which was started in 2004. This campaign targets directly tunnel users by preparing brief descriptions of definitive tunnels and publishing those in the internet pages of the automobile clubs involved. It is complemented by a PC educational game as well as information sheets concerning the best behaviour that users must adopt in a tunnel. 23/05.