Tunnel specialist Kraftmontasje has won €43 million contract from Trøndelag County in Norway for rehabilitation of the 5.3km-long Frøya Tunnel.
Work will start in April on what is the company’s largest ever single contract. Completion is expected in late autumn next year.
The two-lane Frøya Tunnel – of which around 3.6km is under the Frøyafjord - opened in 2000 and cost about US$45 million. It connects the municipalities of Frøya and Hitra, reaching a depth of 164m below sea level. It begins in the village of Hammarvika on the island of Frøya and travels south under the Frøyfjorden to the island of Dolmøya in Hitra municipality.
Frøya Tunnel carries Highway 714 which continues over the 756km² Island of Hitra. Highway 714 then enters the three-lane 5.6km-long Hitra Tunnel to the mainland. Hitra Tunnel reaches a depth of 264m below sea level which made it the deepest tunnel in the world when it was opened in December 1994.
Both tunnels are operated by the state road agency Statens Vegvesen.
