Renovation, management & maintenance of tunnels

Due to settlements, loads, and environmental impact, damage occurs in tunnel constructions by material degradation. How this degradation progresses cannot yet be accurately predicted. In collaboration with the Centre for Underground Construction the Technical University of Delft is developing the Fitbit for tunnels: a way to monitor the condition of tunnel structures. Starting by identifying and selecting the critical locations and deteriorations in a tunnel. Next, develop, select, test, and implement sensors capable of detecting relevant changes in material properties. Collect the data generated by these sensors and interpret it using Artificial Intelligence. This session will delve into the Fitbit for tunnels.'

Tunnels: a heritage to regenerate. In Italy, hundreds of tunnels, bridges and viaducts are needed to cross hills, valleys, and streams. Regenerating maintenance interventions on this important heritage and preventive maintenance of more recent assets have become urgent. No other country has so many. If we look at tunnels, Italy alone has half of all European tunnels, totalling 500 kilometres. However, this important heritage is ageing: most of the bridges, viaducts, tunnels and the motorway network itself were built between 1960 and 1980. In addition, the network has to cope with the stress caused by an average daily traffic of 40,000 vehicles per section (compared to 27,000 in France, for example), and with a particularly fragile territory and its hydrogeological instability. Suffice it to say that two thirds of the landslides in Europe occur in Italy and that this figure is likely to increase with the extreme events caused by climate change.It has become imperative to start a campaign of investigations on bridges, viaducts and tunnels considering the wear and tear caused by ageing, but also extreme weather events and the increasingly evident climate change, which affect road transport infrastructure. With support of the EU funds were allocated to start this campaign and Italy is now in the middle of this campaign. How far are they and what lessons have they learned so far?

In 2002, just two years before joining the European Union, Poland’s expressway network was less than 520 km in length. Considering the country’s area of 322,575 km², this was far from being a cohesive network. However, the length of expressways in Poland has since increased nearly tenfold, and by 2024, it is expected to exceed 5,200 km. This growth signifies that the majority of Poland’s expressway network now consists of modern, safe, and far more comfortable roads compared to the ones that were rebuilt in the aftermath of World War II. Poland has also gained considerable experience in constructing modern bridges with spans designed to cross significant natural obstacles such as the Vistula and Odra rivers. Recently, there has been a growing need to build longer tunnels, and while they have already completed some of the first projects, they are continually gaining operational experience. Additional tunnels are currently in various stages of implementation, design, and planning. The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) is the government body responsible for the planning, coordination, construction, ongoing maintenance, as well as the safety and traffic management of Poland’s national roads. In this presentation, Przemysław will share early experiences from the perspective of a road and bridge engineer, a road safety auditor, and, most importantly, a GDDKiA employee. Additionally, he will highlight the actions already undertaken and the future initiatives aimed at enhancing the knowledge and competencies of the organisation in these areas.