Holland's first totally LED-lit tunnel opens

The Vlake tunnel between the Dutch towns of Bergen op Zoom and Vlissingen is the first traffic tunnel in the Holland to be fully illuminated with LED lighting.

i-Tunnel’s T-line road tunnel lighting – the latest innovation in the Stela range of LED solutions from Indal WRTL – was chosen by the Dutch Highways Agency to light the tunnel. The solution was made exclusively for this project after the Dutch government commissioned research into the effectiveness of LED technology in road tunnels. Findings showed that LEDs would not only provide an energy efficient solution but also improve the light quality and safety of drivers. However, there were no suitable luminaires already on the market.

Willem Zandvliet, energy coordinator with Rijkswaterstaat, then approached Indal which was already involved in the development of an LED tunnel luminaire. A year later, after further research and development, the T-line road tunnel lighting was ready for production.

Besides the expected 50 per cent energy saving and 90 per cent reduction in energy costs, there are several other advantages to using LEDs in tunnels. The linear T-line solution provides an unbroken line of light to remove the flickering effect on drivers’ dashboards.

The white light makes it easier to distinguish colours, adding to the driver’s safety, and the LEDs are easier to maintain and last longer. A failed luminaire will have little effect on the overall lighting level – a stark contrast to a point-source installation that can drop below minimum lighting levels if just one or two lamps fail.

The Vlake tunnel is part of the Dutch Ministry of Transportation’s sustainability programme, and is expected to be the first of many road tunnels in the Netherlands to adopt this technology.

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