Ahmed Hamdy Road Tunnel

Ahmed Hamdy tunnel runs under the Suez Canal north of Suez city connecting the Sinai peninsula with the eastern parts of Egypt. The tunnel was completed in 1983. The tunnel is 1.64 km with a total length of 4.20 km including the entrances. Its internal diameter is 10.40 m and having a design capacity of 300 vehicles per hour in each direction.

The tunnel was constructed using open face shield tunnelling method. The tunnel lining consisted of precast reinforced concrete rings, 0.60 m thick having a width of 1.20 m. The route of the tunnel is in stiff clayey layer. the lowest point in the tunnel is at a depth of 51 m.

After 10 years of service, the reinforced concrete segments were deteriorated by the saline water seeping from the joints between the segments which led to the corrosion of the steel bars. The rehabilitation works were done by covering the whole surface of the existing lining with a waterproofing membrane then placing a 45 cm reinforced concrete secondary lining. These works ended in 1995 and the tunnel is now operating successfully.