Rushing to Meet the 2006 Winter Olympics Deadline in TurinThe 1,055 m Craviale tunnel and the 664 m Turina tunnel along state road SS 23, 50 km northwest of Turin, Italy are currently being constructed by Baldassini Tognozzi. The owner is Agenzia Torino 2006, the public body responsible for the construction of the facilities and venues for the 20th Winter Olympic Games which will take place in Turin in February 2006.The Craviale tunnel is being excavated in hard, jointed metadiorite using a computerised 3-boom Rocket Boomer WL3 C of Atlas Copco. Support consists primarily of Swellex Mn 24 bolts, Dramix® steel fibre-reinforced shotcrete and steel arches, where required. Almost two thirds of the Turina tunnel is being excavated in alluvial deposits consisting of sandy and silty gravel. A 2-boom Rocket Boomer 353 of Atlas Copco is used. Visit www.swellex.com and www.dramix.comThe contractor preferred full-face excavation as opposed to the top heading and bench sequence that the original design had foreseen. Excavation takes place under a jet grouted column front. Geotechnical and structural calculations permitted the replacement of a traditional reinforcement lining, specified in the original design, by Dramix® steel fibre concrete that is additionally reinforced by sets of welded wire mesh that arrive on site pre-shaped according to a single and self-supporting arch geometry, resulting in significant time savings.The primary lining is composed of shotcrete mixed with Dramix® RC 65/35 BN steel fibres (35 kg/cu m). The final lining system, proposed and currently used for the tunnelling sections in rock requiring reinforcement (portal areas and F1) and the F3 section, consists of steel fibre C25/30 concrete that is further reinforced by a single layer of welded wire mesh in the zones where tension is expected to develop. The concrete mixture uses 30 kg/cu m of Dramix® RC 65/60 BN steel fibres (hooked ends, 6 cm long). This lining system concentrates many advantages, among which higher crack resistance, reduced brittleness, reduced fissuring during the hardening process, optimisation of the conventional steel reinforcement, significant time saving and less effort to install the reinforcement thus leading to highly efficient working hours. A length of 12 could be finished in 16 hours. Click it/82. 45/05.