UTRECHT, 7 September 2008 – The first section of the Limerick Tunnel in Ireland was successfully laid last weekend. The remaining four tunnel sections of the tunnel under the river Shannon will be laid at the weekend by the immersion team working for Strukton subsidiary Mergor Underwater Construction.

The tunnel forms part of the Limerick Southern Ring Road Project, a 10-km long stretch of the new route around Limerick City. The tunnel has a total length of 675 metres, and the building costs amount to €300 million. In cooperation with Van Oord, Mergor is carrying out the marine activities by order of the PPP Concessionary Direct Route.

For Limerick, the tunnel forms an important part of the new ring road around Limerick City. At present, all traffic bound for the other side of the river Shannon must pass through the city centre. Project leader Oskar Koster from Mergor: “To make this 6-km journey during peak traffic can take up to an hour; at other times, a quarter of an hour. The new tunnel will reduce travelling time to the other side to just one minute.” Not only will the ring road reduce travelling time, it will also vastly reduce congestion in the centre of Limerick. Around 40,000 vehicles will make use of the new road each day.

Immersion of the tunnel involves high precision work down to the last millimetre. Koster: “We are dealing with extreme tide differences of around 6 metres. This creates extremely strong currents. The projection across the river from the dry dock is therefore a very exciting part of the entire operation."