Emergency Lighting in Road Tunnels

CIE 193:2010
Division 4
ISBN: 
978 3 901906 91 6

This report makes recommendations for emergency lighting in road tunnels longer than 500 m, to facilitate the safe evacuation of vehicle occupants in emergency situations such as fire. The recommendations may also be valid for tunnels less than 500 m in length, where conditions such as high traffic volume, or severe curvature or gradient apply. It The report addresses the fundamental issues of emergency lighting for evacuation routes, emergency exits, escape routes and lay-bys, as well as giving some practical advice regarding aspects of installation and maintenance in road tunnels. It recommends lighting levels and general provisions for emergency lighting installations that, based on experience, are considered to be necessary for the safety of people driving through road tunnels in case of an incident and particularly of fire. However, as there are different types of road tunnels, both in construction and traffic conditions and various types of incidents may occur, this report should be considered as a list of minimum recommendations for emergency lighting in tunnels, to be completed by means of specific risk analysis for the particular tunnel.

This report is intended to be used in conjunction with CIE 88 (2nd revision – 2004 or any further revision) or with relevant Regional or National standards, directives and regulations for road tunnel lighting. The latter may include requirements that differ from the recommendations of this report, and take priority over them. Before following the recommendations of the report in a particular location, the existence of any relevant legal requirements should be investigated.

The publication is written in English, with a short summary in French and German. It consists of 14 pages with 7 figures and is readily available at the National Committees of the CIE or via the CIE Webshop.

The following members of TC 4-43 took part in the preparation of this Technical Report:

  •  M. Bijzak, Slovenia
  •  H. Finke, Germany
  •  M. Gillet, Belgium (chair)
  •  H. Huijben, Netherlands
  •  J. Lecocq, France
  •  P. Lutkevich, USA
  •  J.-C. Martin, France
  •  K. Narisada, Japan
  •  J. Rands, United Kingdom
  •  T. Saito, Japan
  •  P. Soardo, Italy
  •  D. Simpson, United Kingdom
  •  A. Tanaka, Japan