Excavation of Stafelter tunnel starts in Luxembourg Excavation of the 1.85 km-long twin tube Stafelter tunnel on the A7 Route du Nord began at the south portal on 18.02.2009. The tunnel, 200 m of which is in cut & cover, will have two lanes per direction. The horseshoe profile varies from 58.5 sq m to 87.4 sq m, and the distance between the two tubes varies from 16 m to 25 m with cover of 5 m to 20 m. They are connected by six crosspassages, two of which are designed for emergency vehicles, and there are SOS niches at 90 m intervals. The gradient is 0.5% through typical Luxembourg sandstone geology. Work from the north portal should start in June, 2009. The JV TR-Engineering/Luxplan is managing the project, which has a 48 month duration. Click lu/13. Visit www.tr-engineering.lu, www.luxplan.lu and www.pch.public.lu/projets/tunnel_stafelter/index.html. 09/09.