Misplaced Pages

Vestfjarðagöng

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Tunnel in Iceland
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Icelandic. (January 2022) Click for important translation instructions.
  • Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Misplaced Pages.
  • Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
  • You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Icelandic Misplaced Pages article at ]; see its history for attribution.
  • You may also add the template {{Translated|is|Vestfjarðagöng}} to the talk page.
  • For more guidance, see Misplaced Pages:Translation.
Westfjords Tunnel
East entrance
Overview
LocationÍsafjarðarbær, Iceland
Route60, 65
Operation
Work begun1991
Opened1996
OperatorVegagerðin
TrafficAutomotive
Vehicles per day700
Technical
Length9.120 km (5.667 mi)
No. of lanes1-2

Vestfjarðagöng (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈvɛstˌfjarðaˌkœyŋk] , regionally also [-ˌkœŋk], lit. 'Westfjords Tunnel') is the longest tunnel in Iceland, located in Westfjords in northwestern Iceland. It has a length of 9.1 km (6 mi) and was opened in September 1996.

Junction at the core of the tunnel.

The tunnel has three entrances and the three arms meet at junction in the tunnel. The three arms are known as:

  • Breiðadalur, 4,150 m (13,615 ft), which gives access to Flateyri and the south-western part of the Westfjords;
  • Botnsdalur 2,907 m (9,537 ft), which gives access to the village of Suðureyri to the west, a dead end route;
  • Tungudalur 2,103 m (6,900 ft), which gives access to Ísafjörður and the northern part of the Westfjords.

Only the Tungudalur arm has two lanes throughout. Much of the rest of the tunnel has only one lane with passing places, with traffic light control at curved sections to avoid collisions.

The tunnel avoids the Breiðadalsheiði road pass, the summit of which at 610m was formerly the highest pass in regular use in the Westfjords. It was frequently blocked by snow and prone to avalanches.

References

  1. Merzagora, Eugenio (June 2006). "Road Tunnels in Iceland". The World's Longest Tunnel Page. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2010.

66°03′09″N 23°16′44″W / 66.05250°N 23.27889°W / 66.05250; -23.27889

Stub icon

This article about transport in Iceland is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Stub icon

This European tunnel-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: