Conceptual recommendations for the implementation of safety systems in road tunnels for Chile
Keywords:
Safety, Tunnels, Road, Accident, PIARCAbstract
The increasing demand for the use of underground road space makes it necessary to have adequate standards for the design of safety systems in road tunnels to ensure robust operation of these infrastructures. In this regard, the Highway Manual and other related national documents provide general guidelines on safety systems; however, the specific parameters lack a clear focus on the philosophy of tunnel safety. This is essential to prevent accidents and tragedies, such as those that occurred in the Mont-Blanc Tunnel (France, March 1999) and the Botanical Garden Tunnel (Chile, May 2016). According to the above, the design philosophy should focus on issues related to: ventilation, lighting, control centre, emergency exits, energy autonomy (generator set), UPS for elements, wet network, fire extinguishers, IED, fire detection, traffic lights/barriers (at the entrances), emergency niches and public address system. The present document provides basic recommendations for the updating of the Road Manual in specific matters of safety systems in road tunnels, based on a research of international ad-hoc documents: Permanent International Association of Road Congresses (PIARC), of the European Union, and of other leading countries in the subject; as well as of documents elaborated at national level, summarised in the Thesis ‘Recommendations for the implementation of safety systems in road tunnels in Chile’, developed by the authors of this document. These recommendations are directly related to sections 3.805 and 6.207 of the Highway Manual in Chile.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Claudio López, Mauricio Espinoza
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The authors who publish in this journal accept the following conditions:
- The authors retain the copyright and assign to the magazine the right of the first publication, with the work registered with the Creative Commons attribution license, which allows third parties to use the published information whenever they mention the authorship of the work and the First publication in this journal.
- Authors may make other independent and additional contractual arrangements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (eg, include it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book) as long as it clearly indicates that the work Was first published in this magazine.
- Authors are encouraged and encouraged to publish their work on the Internet (for example, on institutional or personal pages) before and during the review and publication process, as it can lead to productive exchanges and a greater and faster dissemination of work Published (see The Effect of Open Access).
