Tunnel construction

Tunnelling is one of the most demanding areas of civil engineering and concerns the construction of underground structures. Tunnel construction requires extensive planning and a great deal of experience and specialist knowledge of geology and rock and soil mechanics.

Tunnels are extremely important for traffic. As road, railway or underground railway tunnels, they shorten travel distances and relieve the above-ground infrastructure. Cut-and-cover tunnelling is carried out using shotcrete. In subsurface construction, tunnels are constructed by blasting or using tunnel boring machines.

Geosynthetics are often used in the protection and drainage layers in cut-and-cover tunnel construction and for the tunnel entrances, as well as for sealing the tunnel structure.