The tunnel you are about to drive through, or have just entered, is the Innfjordtunnelen. It is 6,594 metres long, just over 4 miles, and connects Veblungsnes near Åndalsnes with the village of Innfjorden on the E136.
Before this tunnel opened in 1991, the road followed the shoreline of the Romsdalsfjord. It was narrow, winding, and squeezed between steep mountainsides and the water. The problem was rockslides. This stretch was notorious for unstable rock, and in 1989 a landslide killed one person and the road was closed permanently. During the two years it took to build the tunnel, a temporary ferry ran between Åndalsnes and Innfjorden just to keep the connection open.
This is something you will notice throughout western Norway. Many of the tunnels here were not built for convenience. They were built because the old roads along the fjords were simply too dangerous. Mountains that look peaceful from a distance are often fractured and unstable, and rockslides remain a real threat in many parts of the country. Norway has over 1,100 road tunnels for a reason.
Innfjorden itself is a small farming village of about 260 people on the south side of the Romsdalsfjord.
Before this tunnel opened in 1991, the road followed the shoreline of the Romsdalsfjord. It was narrow, winding, and squeezed between steep mountainsides and the water. The problem was rockslides. This stretch was notorious for unstable rock, and in 1989 a landslide killed one person and the road was closed permanently. During the two years it took to build the tunnel, a temporary ferry ran between Åndalsnes and Innfjorden just to keep the connection open.
This is something you will notice throughout western Norway. Many of the tunnels here were not built for convenience. They were built because the old roads along the fjords were simply too dangerous. Mountains that look peaceful from a distance are often fractured and unstable, and rockslides remain a real threat in many parts of the country. Norway has over 1,100 road tunnels for a reason.
Innfjorden itself is a small farming village of about 260 people on the south side of the Romsdalsfjord.