Rogfast is 26.7 kilometres of twin-tube motorway tunnel running under the Boknafjord at up to 392 metres below sea level. Both of those numbers are world records for a subsea road tunnel, and the depth is a record for a road tunnel of any kind. When it opens it removes the last ferry on the E39 between Stavanger and Bergen and cuts roughly 40 minutes off the trip.
Project Scope
Twin tubes at 10.5 metres bore diameter, driven by drill and blast from multiple faces, plus a 4.1 kilometre spur tunnel that connects the island municipality of Kvitsoy to the mainland road network for the first time. Statens vegvesen split the work into four excavation contracts rather than one: Skanska Norge took the north section at roughly NOK 5.0 billion in December 2022, Implenia Norge the south at about NOK 4.0 billion a month later, the Implenia and Stangeland Maskin JV the middle at NOK 6.2 billion in June 2024, and Haehre and Risa the Kvitsoy spur. Norconsult is the design consultant.
The project has an instructive procurement history. Ground was broken ceremonially in January 2018, and in October 2019 the whole thing stopped: the Kvitsoy spur tender came back roughly NOK 1 billion over the figure the Storting had authorised, and every pending contract was cancelled. The budget was re-approved in November 2020 at NOK 24.8 billion, about NOK 8 billion above the 2017 number. Opening has moved from 2025/26 to 2029 to 2031 and now to 2033.
Funding splits NOK 9.9 billion of direct government contribution against NOK 14.9 billion of borrowing to be repaid by tolls.
Why It Matters
Ferry replacement is the whole economic argument for Norway’s coastal highway programme, and Rogfast is the hardest crossing on it. The depth is what makes it interesting technically: at 392 metres you are dealing with water pressure, rock cover margins over weakness zones, and a ventilation and emergency egress problem that has no close precedent at this length.
It is also a clean case study in what happens when a public client tenders a record-setting job against a legislature-approved ceiling. Cancelling every contract and going back for a 48 percent budget increase cost three years. The four-contract structure that followed spreads risk across more contractors and more faces, and the excavation has run without a repeat of the 2019 stoppage.
Project Team & Details
| Developer | Statens vegvesen |
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| Owner / Client | Statens vegvesen (Norwegian Public Roads Administration) |
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| Consultants | Norconsult (Design) |
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| General Contractor | Skanska Norge (north); Implenia Norge (south); Implenia Norge / Stangeland Maskin JV (middle); Haehre / Risa (Kvitsoy spur) |
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| Status | Under Construction |
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| Delivery Method | Design-Bid-Build |
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| Funding Source | Mixed |
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