After more than four months since its launch, the National Highway Company will close the Višňové tunnel. The drivers will return to the road under Strečno Castle for two weeks.
The work will start on Monday, May 4 and will continue without a break during day and night hours.
Highwaymen do maintenance in all tunnels twice a year. They point out that in the case of the Višňové tunnel, which is the longest tunnel within the V4 countries, the maintenance time requirements are much higher.
In addition, maintenance work cannot be carried out during tunnel operation.
“After half a year of intensive use by motorists, it is absolutely necessary to clean the siding – the walls inside the tunnel, the roadway with slotted gutters and the sidewalks from exhaust fumes from the engines. At Višňovo, the area of the cleaned siding and roadway alone represents the area of approximately forty standard football fields,” NDS spokesperson Tomáš Ferenčák illustrates the scope of work. It is about 150,000 square meters of cladding and over 110,000 square meters of road.
“The cleaning of 66 kilometers of drainage pipes, which ensure the removal of rock water, will be especially time-consuming,” added the company’s operations director Rastislav Droppa, and provided a comparison with the Poľana tunnel, which has only four kilometers of drainage pipes.
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At the same time, during the spring maintenance, they will clean and check the entire technology of the tunnel.
“The operation of over 3,000 pieces of lighting will be checked, the operation of five hundred fire detectors, four hundred cameras, one hundred and twenty SOS niches and one hundred variable traffic signs will be checked,” continues Ferenčák.
150 ventilation devices will undergo a comprehensive inspection. It is a key technological system that ensures the safe operation of the tunnel.
“The functionality of fire ventilation cannot be verified only during normal operation. That is why tests are carried out at least twice a year, during which the correct operation of the fans, their direction and performance according to various fire scenarios are verified,” added Rastislav Droppa.
According to highway officials, a suitable date is sought before each closure. In the case of the Višňové tunnel, the maintenance date had to be coordinated with the rehabilitation work of the landslide on road I/18, which is being carried out by the Slovak Road Administration in Strečna.
During the closure of the tunnel on the detour route, all construction work will stop and traffic will not be restricted by any movement of construction workers or machines.
“The section of the first-class road leading through the Strečnianská tisňava has lost nothing of its importance due to the opening of the tunnel, which is also confirmed during the maintenance of Višňový. The Slovak Road Administration is doing everything to ensure that this problematic section is always technically ready to safely take over two-way traffic. During the closure of the tunnel, therefore, traffic in the place of rehabilitation works on the two-hundred-meter section will be conducted as during the previous weeks,” says the director general of the Slovak Road Administration, Norbert Soup.
Maintenance of the Višňové tunnel will start on May 4 at eight o’clock in the morning, when the tunnel will be closed in the direction of Košice. The opposite direction will remain open during the day, the tunnel tube in the direction of Bratislava will not close until 7 p.m. The closure will last a total of 14 days.
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