Kjernfjelltunnelen (English: Kjernfjell Tunnel; ) is a road tunnel on Rv 77 between Storfjord in Saltdal municipality in Nordland and the national border with Sweden. The tunnel runs through Kjernfjellet in Junkerdalen and has a length of .
The construction work began in September 2016, and the tunnel opened to traffic on 17 October 2019.
The tunnel replaced an exposed stretch of road and a bottleneck along Rv77 between Saltdal and Arjeplog in Sweden. The old section past a gorge in the lower part of Junkerdalen is narrow, steep and winding, and large vehicles often got stuck. Detour roads are E12 (Umbukta) and E10 (Bjørnfjell).
Etymology
The name of the tunnel was unclear for a long time. The Mapping Authority and the Language Council believed that the correct name was "Kjernfjellet" and that it had been used for 184 years. The residents believed that they had been saying "Tjernfjell" for several generations and that they therefore had the law on their side when it came to being allowed to keep the place name. A map from 1911 shows the spelling "Kjernefjellet".
The Mapping Authority decided in spring 2019 that the spelling Kjernfjellet should be used as the place name for the area. From this it follows that the tunnel is signposted Kjernfjelltunnelen, as well as the Lule Sámi name Girnotunælla.
The Lule Sámi name is disputed, because the tunnel is located in Pite Sámi territory. On 20 August 2019, Pite Sámi became an officially approved written language.
Internals
The tunnel has 27 emergency stations with telephones and fire extinguishers. There are niches where vehicles have the opportunity to turn as well as breakdown pockets. There are six cameras inside the tunnel and two outside the opening. The old stretch of national highway 77 is closed to car traffic and open to pedestrians and cyclists during the summer months. Telenor originally did not want to install mobile coverage in the tunnel because the company assumed that it would not be profitable.