Jack Lynch Tunnel Maintenance - Why so much needed?

professore

Why is so much maintenance needed on the tunnel that requires it to be closed to traffic? It is closed at least once a month for a day since it opened, with several seemingly unscheduled closures as well.

I have lived in other developed countries with tunnels under large rivers and they rarely closed them for maintenance - they could generally maintain them without closing them. Anyone got any insights?

SeaFields

Agree 100%. Its a nightmare for me as I work evenings in town so traffic can be mental when its closed.

Why dont they do one bore of the tunnel at a time even and let traffic counterflow in the other?

ofcork

They were doing that a couple of weeks ago on a sunday,there was a crash on the side coming from dublin where they had the lanes going into one.

keithclancy

http://www.politics.ie/transport/18335-jack-lynch-tunnel-2.html#post589763

invinciblePRSTV

It is a well utilised piece of infrastructure, critical to the whole region, it needs to be looked after. I say let all maintenance required be taken and accept with a grimace the inevitable closures which results from this.

Aodan83

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

It is a well utilised piece of infrastructure, critical to the whole region, it needs to be looked after. I say let all maintenance required be taken and accept with a grimace the inevitable closures which results from this.

I don't think anyone is denying this, the opposite in fact. The question is why does the tunnel need so much maintenance when other countries can maintain tunnels, which are often larger and service a greater volume of traffic, with less disruption than our own!?

keithclancy

Aodan83 wrote: »

I don't think anyone is denying this, the opposite in fact. The question is why does the tunnel need so much maintenance when other countries can maintain tunnels, which are often larger and service a greater volume of traffic, with less disruption than our own!?

More rain.

Although the Roertunnel down by Roermond here is closed just as much.

invinciblePRSTV

Aodan83 wrote: »

The question is why does the tunnel need so much maintenance when other countries can maintain tunnels, which are often larger and service a greater volume of traffic, with less disruption than our own!?

But is it really the case that other countries have less annual disruptions to their road tunnel infrastructure? Is this based on personal observation or on something a little more measurable? I would imagine an infrastructure project with characteristics like the JLT would require a hefty maintenance regime in place irrespective of what country it is located in.

rebel girl 15

It could also be safety measures as well, to make sure there are no leaks etc as well as the regular cleaning and maintenance. To be fair the maintenance is not that disruptive, better to be safe than sorry!!