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Cover of Guide to Road Tunnels Part 2: Planning, Design and Commissioning
Guide to Road Tunnels Part 2: Planning, Design and Commissioning
  • Publication no: AGRT02-15
  • ISBN: 978-1-925294-80-4
  • Published: 13 November 2015
  • Edition: 2
  • Superseded

The Guide to Road Tunnels Part 2 provides guidance to those making decisions in the planning, design, operation and maintenance of new road tunnels in Australia and New Zealand. Principles and standards identified are based on both Australasian and international experience.

Part 2 sets out the Austroads expectations regarding appropriate design for road tunnels. It discusses all aspects of planning, design and commissioning of road tunnels including structural and geotechnical requirements, fire and life safety, ventilation, lighting, traffic monitoring and control, plant monitoring and control, electrical power supply and the requirements for associated building structures.

It is expected that the Guide will be used by engineers and technical specialists in tunnel technology working on the planning, design and operation of road tunnels, proponents of road tunnel solutions, senior decision makers (in an overview role) and regulators in the various jurisdictions associated with the construction of tunnels.

Edition 2.0 of the Guide provides updated material across the areas of design considerations, structural requirements, geometric design, environmental considerations, fans, CCTV and operational readiness.

  • 1. Introduction
    • 1.1. Structure of the Guide to Road Tunnels
    • 1.2. Purpose of the Guide
    • 1.3. Scope of the Guide to Road Tunnels Part 2
    • 1.4. Safe System
  • 2. General Design Requirements
    • 2.1. Road Tunnel Characteristics
    • 2.2. Overall Design Considerations
    • 2.3. Risk Analysis in the Planning and Design Stage
      • 2.3.1. The Planning Phase
      • 2.3.2. The Design Phase
    • 2.4. Design Criteria
      • 2.4.1. Design Life and Optimum Life-cycle Cost
      • 2.4.2. Serviceability
      • 2.4.3. Durability
    • 2.5. Maintenance Requirements
    • 2.6. Design Methodology and Documentation
    • 2.7. Design Validation during Construction
  • 3. Structural Requirements
    • 3.1. Introduction
      • 3.1.1. Role of the Structure
      • 3.1.2. Designing for Safe Construction and Use
      • 3.1.3. Additional Design Requirements
    • 3.2. The Support Function
    • 3.3. Design for Fire and Fire Resistance
    • 3.4. Live Load Capacity
      • 3.4.1. General
      • 3.4.2. Permissible Development and Live Loading above the Tunnel and within the Easement Area
      • 3.4.3. Permissible Excavation within the Easement Area
      • 3.4.4. Vehicle-induced Wind-suction
    • 3.5. Potential Surface Settlement due to Tunnelling
    • 3.6. Tunnel Seismic Design
  • 4. Geometric Design
    • 4.1. General
    • 4.2. Sight Distance in Tunnels
    • 4.3. Operating Speed
    • 4.4. Horizontal Alignment
    • 4.5. Vertical Alignment
      • 4.5.1. General
      • 4.5.2. Vertical Curves
      • 4.5.3. Grades
    • 4.6. Cross-section
      • 4.6.1. General
      • 4.6.2. Lane Widths
      • 4.6.3. Shoulder Widths
      • 4.6.4. Crossfalls
      • 4.6.5. Auxiliary Lanes
      • 4.6.6. Emergency Stopping Lanes
      • 4.6.7. Vehicle Refuges for Tunnel Incidents
      • 4.6.8. Provision for Evacuation
      • 4.6.9. Emergency Equipment Cabinets
      • 4.6.10. Escape Routes
      • 4.6.11. Traffic Barriers
      • 4.6.12. Working Width
      • 4.6.13. Tunnel Envelope and Vehicle Clearance
    • 4.7. Ramp Connections/Diverges and Merges
    • 4.8. Emergency and Maintenance Facilities
      • 4.8.1. Vehicle Crossovers
      • 4.8.2. Turning Bays
      • 4.8.3. Emergency Services Access and Parking
  • 5. Pavement Design
    • 5.1. General
    • 5.2. Pavement Wearing Surface
  • 6. Environmental Considerations
    • 6.1. Noise
      • 6.1.1. Tunnel-generated External Noise
      • 6.1.2. In-tunnel Noise
      • 6.1.3. Traffic Noise
    • 6.2. Visual Amenity Considerations
      • 6.2.1. General Considerations
      • 6.2.2. Portal Design
      • 6.2.3. Transition Zones
      • 6.2.4. Internal Tunnel Design
      • 6.2.5. External Structures
    • 6.3. Air Quality
      • 6.3.1. Internal Tunnel Requirements
      • 6.3.2. External Air Quality Requirements
    • 6.4. Water Quality
  • 7. Drainage Design
    • 7.1. General
    • 7.2. Drainage Systems
      • 7.2.1. Overall Requirements
      • 7.2.2. Sumps, Separators and Pumping Stations
      • 7.2.3. Pumping Plant
      • 7.2.4. Discharge Piping
      • 7.2.5. Safety Requirements in Sumps
    • 7.3. Watertable Requirements
    • 7.4. Pollution Control
    • 7.5. Calculation of Inflows
      • 7.5.1. General
      • 7.5.2. Rainfall and Stormwater Run-off
      • 7.5.3. Ground Water
      • 7.5.4. Wall Washing
      • 7.5.5. Accidental Spillage
      • 7.5.6. Fire Suppression System
      • 7.5.7. Accidental Rupture of Pumped Drainage
      • 7.5.8. Flood Protection
      • 7.5.9. External Hydraulic Impacts
    • 7.6. Aquaplaning
  • 8. Fire Safety
    • 8.1. Overall Approach
    • 8.2. Design Development
      • 8.2.1. General Approach
      • 8.2.2. Prevention
      • 8.2.3. Evacuation
  • 9. Ventilation Design
    • 9.1. General
      • 9.1.1. Overall Requirements
      • 9.1.2. Assessing Ventilation Needs
      • 9.1.3. Mechanical Ventilation
      • 9.1.4. Performance Objectives
      • 9.1.5. Factors Affecting Ventilation System Performance
    • 9.2. Systems of Tunnel Ventilation
    • 9.3. Air Quality Management
      • 9.3.1. Internal Tunnel Requirements
      • 9.3.2. External Air Quality
    • 9.4. Fans
      • 9.4.1. Noise
      • 9.4.2. Ventilation System Safeguards
  • 10. Lighting Design
    • 10.1. Overview
    • 10.2. Lighting Zones
    • 10.3. Spacing and Location of Luminaires
      • 10.3.1. General
      • 10.3.2. Centrally Mounted Luminaires
      • 10.3.3. Side Mounted Luminaires
      • 10.3.4. Visual Flicker
    • 10.4. Surface Reflectance
    • 10.5. Other Requirements
      • 10.5.1. Essential Lighting Supply
      • 10.5.2. Emergency and Egress Passage Lighting
      • 10.5.3. Luminaire Enclosures
      • 10.5.4. Lighting Control
      • 10.5.5. Future Developments
  • 11. Electrical Supply Design
    • 11.1. General
    • 11.2. Tunnel Electrical Supply System
      • 11.2.1. General
      • 11.2.2. Security of Supply
      • 11.2.3. Design and Maintenance
      • 11.2.4. Electromagnetic Fields Minimisation
    • 11.3. High Voltage System
    • 11.4. Low Voltage System
      • 11.4.1. Protection Systems
    • 11.5. Uninterruptible Power Supply
      • 11.5.1. General
      • 11.5.2. Essential Loads Network
      • 11.5.3. Types of UPS
      • 11.5.4. UPS Design Parameters
      • 11.5.5. Back-up Generating Equipment
    • 11.6. Cabling
  • 12. Design for Monitoring and Control
    • 12.1. Operations Management and Control Systems
      • 12.1.1. Introduction
      • 12.1.2. Operator Interface
      • 12.1.3. Response Procedures
      • 12.1.4. Trainer and Back-up System
      • 12.1.5. Report and Logging Requirements
      • 12.1.6. Reliability and Availability
      • 12.1.7. Performance Requirements
      • 12.1.8. Scope for Future Development of the OMCS
    • 12.2. Tunnel Control Centre
    • 12.3. Traffic Monitoring and Control System
      • 12.3.1. General
      • 12.3.2. Tunnel Information Signs System
      • 12.3.3. Lane Control System
      • 12.3.4. Variable Speed Limit (VSL) System
      • 12.3.5. Ramp Control Signs System
      • 12.3.6. Variable Message Signing System
      • 12.3.7. Tunnel Closures
      • 12.3.8. Remotely Controlled Barriers
      • 12.3.9. Traffic Monitoring
      • 12.3.10. Closed Circuit Television
      • 12.3.11. Automatic Incident Detection
    • 12.4. Directional Signing System
    • 12.5. Communications System
      • 12.5.1. General
      • 12.5.2. Radio Re-broadcast
      • 12.5.3. Emergency Services Communications
      • 12.5.4. Public Address System
      • 12.5.5. Help Phones/Motorist Emergency Telephone System
      • 12.5.6. Mobile Telephones Re-broadcast
    • 12.6. Plant Management and Control System
    • 12.7. Tunnel Network Communication System
  • 13. Services Buildings and Plant Rooms
    • 13.1. General
    • 13.2. Design and Layout
      • 13.2.1. Space and Provision Requirements
      • 13.2.2. Cable and Equipment Separation
      • 13.2.3. Future Maintenance
    • 13.3. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
    • 13.4. Floor Loading
    • 13.5. Lightning Protection
    • 13.6. Building Security and Fire Protection
      • 13.6.1. Intruder Alarm System
      • 13.6.2. Fire Alarm and Extinguishing Systems
  • 14. Construction Issues
    • 14.1. Overview
    • 14.2. Responsibility of Designers
    • 14.3. Design Review for Construction
    • 14.4. Ventilation System for Construction
    • 14.5. Design Review for Construction
    • 14.6. Ventilation System for Construction
  • 15. Tunnel Commissioning
    • 15.1. General
    • 15.2. The Commissioning Plan
      • 15.2.1. Overall Requirements
      • 15.2.2. Personnel
      • 15.2.3. Testing and Commissioning Protocol
      • 15.2.4. Acceptance Criteria
      • 15.2.5. Corrective Actions
      • 15.2.6. Documentation
    • 15.3. Testing and Commissioning of System Components
      • 15.3.1. Overall Requirements
      • 15.3.2. Fire Safety System
      • 15.3.3. Ventilation System Validation
      • 15.3.4. Electrical Supply Validation
      • 15.3.5. Lighting System Validation
      • 15.3.6. Drainage Validation
      • 15.3.7. System Integration
    • 15.4. Commissioning Records
      • 15.4.1. General
      • 15.4.2. Inspection Checklists
      • 15.4.3. As-built Records
      • 15.4.4. Manuals Required
    • 15.5. Operational Readiness
      • 15.5.1. General
      • 15.5.2. Infrastructure Readiness
      • 15.5.3. Personnel Readiness
      • 15.5.4. Documentation Readiness
    • 15.6. Continuous Improvement
  • References
  • Appendix A Horizontal Curves and Sight Distance
  • Appendix B General Classification of Ventilation Systems
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