According to the responsible authority, the mountain will be subjected to “a lot of demands” as a result of the work on a second tube. The investigation is still ongoing and traffic could be flowing again by the end of the week.
After the ceiling cracked in the Gotthard road tunnel in Switzerland and the closure of the facility since Sunday, experts are investigating whether construction work on the mountain could be responsible for the incident. This was reported by the Swiss Federal Roads Office.
The experts assumed that “stress redistributions” in the mountains were the cause of the damage, the office said. This could be due to movements in the mountain, tectonic influences or even construction work in the mountain. It was said that the structural measures for the second tube would make a lot of demands on him. The investigation into this is ongoing.
The Federal Roads Office is also in the process of installing a steel structure to replace the defective false ceiling. This means that the exhaust air duct above can function again, through which smoke is removed from the roadway in the event of a fire. The Federal Office wants to open the tunnel to traffic again by the end of the week, if possible. Until then, this will be diverted over a large area via pass roads. This adds about an hour to the journey.
On Sunday, concrete parts fell from the false ceiling onto the road. Nobody got hurt. Experts discovered a 25 meter long crack in the ceiling. The almost 17 kilometer long tunnel was closed.
The Gotthard Tunnel, which opened in 1980, is one of the most important transport connections through the Swiss Alps, including on the way from Germany to Italy. It has one lane each heading north and south. A second tube is currently being built in order to be able to renovate the first. It should be finished in 2029. After the renovation, from 2032 onwards, one lane each will lead north and south through the various tubes.