Heathrow Airside Road Tunnel
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The Heathrow Airside Road Tunnel (ART) is a tunnel at Heathrow Airport. It connects the airside roads around Terminals 1, 2 and 3 to those around Terminal 5. The tunnel was opened to traffic in March 2005 and is used only by vehicles with security clearance to drive airside.
The ART is Script error: No such module "convert". long, consisting of Script error: No such module "convert". of twin-cell cut and cover box at each end, linked by a pair of Script error: No such module "convert". long bored tunnels. The ART was designed and built between 1999 and 2004 by a team of engineers from the BAA (the tunnel's owner), Amec, Laing O'Rourke, Morgan Est-Vinci and Mott MacDonald.
The bored tunnels have internal diameter of Script error: No such module "convert". and were driven by a Script error: No such module "convert". diameter Herrenknecht earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine. The excavations were lined with a bolted concrete lining Script error: No such module "convert". thick: these are unusually strong tunnel segments, required because the ART is so close to the surface and, at one point, passes Script error: No such module "convert". over the top of the Heathrow Express tunnel to Terminal 4.
Each bore contains an unusual road layout, consisting of a single carriageway Script error: No such module "convert". wide; just wide enough to allow an airport bus (Cobus 2700) to drive past another bus stopped at the side of the road. The two tunnels are linked by escape cross-passages at intervals of Script error: No such module "convert"..
Portals
- West portal: Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
- East portal: Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Sources
- Challenging ART for Heathrow, World Tunnelling August 2003, pp. 225–229
- Darby, A., The Airside Road Tunnel, Heathrow Airport, England, Proceedings of the Rapid Excavation & Tunneling Conference, New Orleans, June 2003, pp. 638–647
- Morgan Est project page on T5