Drivers used the long-awaited Višňové tunnel for four and a half months. From Monday, transport returns to Strečno for about a fortnight. The National Highway Maintenance Company has closed both tunnel tubes.
The announced two-week deadline seems too long to motorists. 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.
The work will be carried out according to the exact schedule without a break during day and night hours.
The general director of the National Highway Company, Filip Macháček, defends this length of work by claiming that the first shutdown is the most demanding, and in addition, there is generally more maintenance work after winter.
“We are doing everything so that the deadline lasts less than a fortnight. The schedule is planned for a fortnight, which is, I would say, quite tight,” he informed.
He admitted that they are thinking about activities that are not so fundamental and could be postponed.
“If they can be done sooner, they will be done sooner, but if not, they could only be done in the autumn maintenance. This will of course not help the autumn maintenance. We will try to do everything that is planned now and as quickly as possible,” Macháček indicated the strategy and insists that the autumn closure must be shorter. “And significantly shorter, but this conclusion will give us the answer to that,” he indicated that they were going into the unknown.
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Drainage concerns
The state of the drainage is questionable. It is a key drainage system that captures and drains water from the tunnel.
“We also have drains made by the original contractor, the Italians, which have been serviced, repaired, and cleaned. A deposit of clay water forms in the drains, if no maintenance was done, some drains would already be blocked,” he says with respect for what may await the workers.
“The cleaning of 66 kilometers of drainage pipes, which ensure the removal of rock water, will be particularly time-consuming,” added Rastislav Droppa, the company’s operations director, and provided a comparison with the Poľana tunnel, which has only four kilometers of drainage pipes.
The state of the technology is also unknown
The head of the highway authorities repeats that maintenance work cannot be carried out during the operation of the tunnel. He also ruled out rumors that during the shutdown they will finish and redo what was not done during construction. “No. This is normal spring maintenance and warranty service,” insists Filip Macháček.
During the spring maintenance, more than three thousand pieces of lighting will be cleaned and checked, the functioning of five hundred fire detectors, four hundred cameras, one hundred and twenty SOS niches, one hundred variable traffic signs and 150 ventilation devices will be checked.
Igor Jamnický from the company PPA Control claims that they are also set up to do the work in a shorter time.
“We will see when the tunnel is closed, what condition the facilities are in. They have had a difficult winter season, which is burdensome. The huge number of vehicles that passed through the tunnel will also do their work,” he noted.
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There will be no roads under Strečná
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 the I/18 road, 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 has stopped 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 Višňové. 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 200-meter section will be conducted as during the previous weeks,” says the director general of the Slovak Road Administration, Norbert Soup.
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