Emergency escape and services tunnel design
Schmitten Tunnel
This project was realized by ATE.
The Schmitten Tunnel was built between 1992 and 1995 according to the guidelines and standards for road tunnels (RVS) of the time. It was opened to two-directional, single carriageway traffic on 27th June 1996. Components of the safety equipment must be brought up to modern standards after 23 years of continual operation.
It becomes steadily more difficult to find replacement parts for old systems. Contingency measures in case of technical defects can only be used to sustain levels of safety for a limited time..
New tunnel standards require that the distance between emergency exits must not exceed 500 m. Three additional emergency escape passages are needed to ensure the possibility self-rescue.
ATE created the concept of the escape and emergency service tunnel for the Schmitten Tunnel, the initial and consent design, the geotechnical and detailed detail design, tender evaluation, and design coordination.