CEN/TC 169/WG 6 - Tunnel lighting

This document describes the current practice in the design of the lighting of road tunnels and underpasses for motorized and mixed traffic. This concerns arrangements, levels and other parameters including daylight, which are related only to traffic safety. Aspects concerning visual comfort are generally chosen in agreement with national rules. The information in this report concerns any tunnel or underpass where the decision to provide lighting has been taken by any authority working within national legislation or other constraints. The design is based on photometric considerations, and all values of luminance or illuminance are maintained values.
The main body of the report covers the common aspects of Tunnel Lighting, and the various methods currently used in Europe are detailed in the annexes. No single method is recommended.

This European Standard specifies evacuation lighting in road tunnels longer than 500 m and with an AADT (Annual Average Daily Traffic) higher than 500 vehicles to facilitate the safe evacuation of vehicle occupants in evacuation situations such as fire. It addresses the fundamental issues of evacuation lighting for evacuation routes, emergency exits and cross connections, as well as giving some practical advice regarding aspects of installation and maintenance in road tunnels. It is intended to be used in conjunction with CEN/CR 14380:2003 or relevant national standards for road tunnel lighting.
The recommendations may be applied to tunnels up to 500 m in length, especially where conditions such as high traffic volume, or severe curvature or gradient apply.
It specifies lighting levels and general provisions for evacuation 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 in case of fire. However, as there are different types of road tunnels, both in construction and traffic conditions, various types of incident may occur. This standard should be considered as a list of minimum prescriptions for evacuation lighting in tunnels, to be completed by means of specific risk analysis for the particular tunnel.
The design of marking and safety signs is not part of this standard.

This standard is valid for all road tunnels and underpasses which are used by the motorised traffic, and which are decided to be lighted.