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The Dublin Port Tunnel Project
Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland, is located on the East Coast of the country, and has a history lasting more than 10 centuries. Dublin Port, in the central part of the city, is an important port which handles 2/3 of the port trade of Ireland, with about 2 million trucks per year going in and out. However, since the road to the Dublin port passes through the urban area of the city, it is plagued by chronic traffic congestion. The Dublin Port Tunnel Project has been planned in order to improve the traffic situation in the city, to make access to Dublin Port easy, and to enable continuous development of the port. Nishimatsu is executing a design-build contract of the bypass road construction project which includes a total length of about 5.6km (TBM section : 2.6km; cut & cover tunnel section : 1.9km; ground level approach section : 1.1km). Our JV includes Mowlem (U.K.) and Irishenco (Ireland). 2. Environmentally Friendly Construction Method The strata of the tunnel section includes hard limestone and boulder clay, which supported the huge load of a glacier in ancient times. For the 2.6km tunnel section located directly underneath a residential area, Nishimatsu adopted the TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) excavation method, which does not use dynamite, in order to minimize influence on the environment by vibration, noise, etc. Nishimatsu is safely constructing at a high rate of speed the large section tunnel (about 12m outer diameter), taking advantage of its extensive construction experience using TBMs around the world. 3. International Joint Venture Nishimatsu formed a joint venture with Mowlem (U.K.) and Irishenco (Ireland). Nishimatsu also employed famous British design consultants for this design-build contract. Nishimatsu has formed many joint ventures with various overseas companies up until now, resulting in numerous successful overseas projects. As well as the previous successful projects, Nishimatsu shares its outstanding technology and excellent management resouces with its partners in this project, and this big project is progressing favorably. 4. Record of Hard Rock TBM Method Nishimatsu has adopted the TBM method in many projects around the world. A record of these major projects is as follows:
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