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Project Description
The tunnel “Dos Valires” was opened to traffic in 2012. With a length of 3 km, it joins the Andorran parishes Encamp and La Massana, providing a direct road link between the two upper valleys of the country to bypass the capital Andorra la Vella. It is the largest infrastructure project in Andorra to date.
The two parallel tunnels carry two lanes each. They are connected by a central gallery and eleven transverse galleries, one every 240 m, aligned with the emergency zones. Of these eleven galleries, eight are for pedestrian use, and three are for vehicle use. The tunnel has a symmetric cross-sectional shape with circular curves, having a minimum radius of 2000 m plus the corresponding joining curves. This shape allows for a comfortable speed of 80 km/h.
Design/Construction Approach
Pedelta designed the two-tunnel portals at both sides. The design of the two tunnel portals included a 25 m backfill on top of them to restore the existing ground conditions before the slope cutting as well as to achieve its landscape integration. The 150 m long portals were built on an earth embankment gained from the river. Around 200 m of cut and cover were built. For the structural analysis of the shield, a global structural model was built using the software FLAG, specialized in advanced analysis.
