Road Tunnel Openings around the WorldNew South Wales PM Morris Iemma officially opened on 28th August, 2005 Sydney's Cross City tunnel. The project has been delivered ahead of schedule. The AUD680 million tollway connects Darling Harbour and Rushcutters Bay. It will take up to 90,000 cars off city streets each day and improve travel times by allowing motorists to avoid up to 18 sets of traffic lights. The Cross City tunnel eastbound connects to the eastern distributor southbound. The eastern distributor northbound connects to the Cross City tunnel westbound. Eastbound and westbound traffic travels in separate two-lane tunnels, each 2.1 km long. The project required 3.3 million work hours and almost a million tonnes of rock hauled away from 8.5 km of tunnel altogether. The tunnel will provide a direct connection to the western distributor and the Anzac bridge. In December 2002, the Roads and Traffic Authority signed a contract with the Cross City Motorway consortium (CCM) to finance, construct, operate and maintain the Cross City tunnel. CCM includes Cheung Kong Infrastructure, Bilfinger Berger BOT, and RREEF Infrastructure (the global infrastructure investment arm of Deutsche Asset Management). CCM appointed the Baulderstone Hornibrook / Bilfinger Berger JV to undertake design and construction of the project. Read E-News Weekly 35/2004, 27/2004, 3/2003 & 9/2002. Click au/20 and here. Visit www.crosscity.com.auThe Herren tunnel across the Trave river in Luebeck, Germany opened to traffic on 26th August. Traffic jams between the city centre and the Baltic Sea harbour are now a thing of the past. A 2,125 m road section, whereof 780 m-long 10.4 m ID twin bored tunnels under the Trave, replaces the Klapp lifting bridge over the river and allows for uninterrupted traffic and navigation. The Trave crossing project was jointly developed by Hochtief PPP Solutions and Bilfinger Berger BOT, who got a 30-year concession contract to plan, finance, build and operate the scheme. The tunnel was designed and built in 46 months, at a cost of EUR176 million. Read E-News Weekly 6/2004. Click de/11. View picture here. Visit www.herrentunnel.de, www.travequerung.de and www.hochtief-pppsolutions.de/ppp/download/pdf/HTD_flyer_infotunnel.pdfPresident Alfredo Palacio inaugurated on 10th August the 1,304 m-long 11.5 m-wide 6.7 m-high Oswaldo Guayasamin toll tunnel on the Interoceanian corridor in Quito, Ecuador between Plaza Argentina and Miravalle roundabout. The tunnel communicates east Quito with Tumbaco and Cumbaya valleys. The tunnel is a one-way passage, with alternate traffic (from midnight to noon from the valleys to the capital and from noon to midnight in the opposite direction). The tunnel is equipped with 472 lamps, 16 fans, 16 video cameras and 10 fire detection cameras. Read E-News Weekly 31/2004. Click ec/16. View picture here.Lorenzo Dellai, president of Trento autonomous province, and Ferdinand Willeit, president of Autostrada del Brennero SpA, inaugurated on 8th August the new road connection which improves traffic from the highway booth in Rovereto south to road SS 240 in Mori west and the Ravazzone bridge. The Mori slip road on the A 22 is a 6.7 km, including the Tierno twin bored  tunnel (2,218 m / 2,280 m). Among the major technical aspects is the soundproof and draining surfacing, the monitoring and video surveillance system all the way in the tunnel and environmental improvements with landscaping, in particular at the portals. Click it/24. View picture here.Russian president Vladimir Putin inaugurated on 19th August the newly built Krasnopolyansky road tunnel. The 2,470 m tunnel links the Black Sea resorts of Sochi and Adler with five towns in the Caucasus mountains, including the popular ski resort of Krasnaya Polyana, 70 km from Sochi. Putin also visited the ventilation facility designed to evacuate smoke from the tunnel in the event of fire and the management centre where all events in the tunnel are monitored 24 hours a day. View picture here.The Trojane tunnel in Slovenia was officially inaugurated on 12th August on the Trojane-Blagovica stretch which opened to traffic on the next day. Slovenia's longest double-tube tunnel is on the Koper-Lendava section of highway A1, which will connect the Adriatic coast with the Slovenian-Austrian border. The tunnel will considerably shorten the journey through Slovenia to the Adriatic coast. Skanska BS had to overcome unfavourable geological conditions to build the tunnel, which cuts through Trojane Pass between the Kamnisko-Savinjske Alps and uplands along the Sava river. The tunnel is 2,931 and 2,720 metres long and lies 40 km from Ljubljana towards Maribor on the 230.7 km-long Maribor-Ljubljana-Koper highway. Click si/13. View pictures here and video here. Visit www.dars.si 36/05.