Adelaide's Heysen Tunnels get $160 million, state-of-the-art facelift

World-leading technology is being incorporated into major upgrades to Adelaide's Heysen Tunnels.

The $150 million project is almost complete, but there will still be some pain for commuters until early next year.

At the heart of the upgrades is a state-of-the-art automated fire suppression system, capable of spraying water inside the tunnels for up to two hours during a fire. 

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"(That makes) these the safest tunnels anywhere in the world at the moment, they are over 25 years old and this is about bringing them up to the latest standard," infrastructure and transport department chief executive Jon Whelan said.

Twenty-three new fans have also been installed to improve ventilation and enhance visibility by efficiently clearing fog and smoke, and boom gates have been incorporated as an additional safety measure, enabling the tunnels to be swiftly closed off in emergencies.

The project also includes the installation of 1000 new LED lights, marking the first major lighting upgrade since the tunnels opened in 2000.

Additionally, a public address radio rebroadcast system has been integrated to allow emergency messaging directly to drivers' car radios in case of tunnel emergencies. 

While the upgrades are underway, the 55,000 commuters who navigate the construction each day may experience some pain.

Final testing of the new systems is expected to conclude in February.

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"We will be releasing some smoke canisters throughout January to test out fire suppression and smoke detection," Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis said. 

"So if you see smoke coming out of the tunnels... it's us."

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.