The Austmannali Tunnel () is a

road tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

Ullensvang Municipality Ullensvang is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre is the town of Odda. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Lofthus, Utne, Vikebygd, ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The long tunnel is part of the

European route E134 European route E134 () is a International E-road network, European highway that crosses Norway starting at Haugesund Airport, Karmøy near the city of Haugesund on the west coast, heading over Haukeli, passing the city of Drammen, and ending in V ...

highway as it goes up the Austmannlia mountain. The tunnel is located just south of the lake

Valldalsvatnet Valldalsvatnet is a lake in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The lake lies about northeast of the village of Røldal. The lake has a dam at the southern end, and it is used to regulate the water level for purposes of hydroele ...

, about northeast of the village of

Røldal Røldal is a village in the municipality of Ullensvang in Vestland county, Norway. The village lies in the Røldal valley along the Storelva river on the north end of the lake Røldalsvatnet. Røldal is located about southeast of the town of ...

. The tunnel was built in 1982 to replace a steep section of the highway that was built in 1880 which had a road grade of 8.3% and included five sharp

hairpin turn A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal ha ...

s. The new tunnel is wider than the old road and it is one large

horseshoe curve A horseshoe curve is a class of climbing curve in a roadbed that reverses turn direction (inflection) twice on either side of a single tight curve that varies through an angle of about 180 degrees or more. Such curves are more commonly found ...

with a steady increase in elevation through the whole tunnel. On 20 November 2009, there was a large rock slide and about of rock crushed the lower entrance area of the tunnel, completely blocking it. The concrete structure supporting the entrance was completely destroyed.

References

Ullensvang Road tunnels in Vestland {{Norway-tunnel-stub