May 22, 2006

This 3150 m (1.95 mile) long tunnel in Russia is the longest in-city tunnel of Europe. There is a river running over it and water leaks at some points. When the temperature reaches -38 degrees like it did during this footage, the road freezes and the result is the attached video taken during a single day with the tunnel camera.

Who would expect ice inside a tunnel?

  • Me. Tunnels leak - at both ends and in the middle.
  • I'd really hate to be sitting in the back of that bus about halfway through. Ouch. Why on earth didn't they close the tunnel, or spread grit, or put up warning signs? That just looks ridiculous.
  • They're all driving tooooo fast.
  • Yikes, yikes, yikes. Horrifying.
  • Holy skid marks in the Underwear, Batman! That's insane. There's no way I'd go through that thing. Little leaks turn into big leaks. Entropy rules.
  • I think all tunnels should have soundtracks.
  • I'd be suspicious of the "single day" claim. More likely it's a "best of" reel (so to speak), unless the poster has specific information otherwise.
  • I'd have to agree with expuppi: any one of those amazing crashes could take hours to clear, and there are only twenty-four hours per day (at least on earth). I do not have verification from the Russian government regarding the validity of the claim, nor were calls returned from Nvodnociek Smolensk, tunnel video coordinator. Foiled again (and not my hair)... Oh well, I still like the crashes.
  • I hope everyone was ok! That said... I thought the funniest part was right at the end. The car crashes into a wall, then comes to a stop. You think it's all over... then the back taillight blows out. Great timing.
  • Ahhh, meredithea. You've confirmed I'm not a monster. I was seeing this with someone, both speechless and wincing at the screen... the music ends, the last car stops... *pooof* goes that light. Well, I guffawed. "You think that's funny?" Well, I did.
  • I blame Vodka.
  • I give serious (possibly mad?) props to the driver of that bus. Steer into the skid! Oh shit! Steer into the skid! Oh shit! Steer into the skid...
  • Hoping all were okay, the part where the truck came through the wall was so..wow.
  • I've seen this before, and still... oh my. Wow, that was pretty intense. I didn't know the backstory on the tunnel, the first time I saw it, I wasn't sure what to make of it, but now that I know there is ice... That doesn't mean that the part where the truck comes through the wall doesn't freak me out anymore!
  • I've been so confused to what that little explosion was. It looks so much like an explosion of fluid. Notice that its windshield pops out too. The extra van freaks me out. I've watched it so many times trying to see where it comes from, but I can't see it. Its like frickin magic.
  • Looks like there's a gap in the tunnel, between columns I guess, and the lanes there have traffic in the opposite direction. Guess the other truck skidded and invaded the other lane... damn. Is it my iPod-busted hearing, or the lyrics say 'Well take a holiday... You know I'll love you better'..?
  • more here
  • I'd really hate to be sitting in the back of that bus about halfway through. No kidding. Amazingly there aren't any huge pile ups. Around here accidents like those trucks colliding would result in a huge rear ender pile up.
  • No problem, Flagpole, I'm always ready to laugh at inappropriate things :) I was wondering where that extra truck came from. I thought I just blinked or something, and *poof*.
  • The most amazing thing to me, after showing a few people, is that when somebody starts to skid, the cars behind them have no trouble stopping. Quite interesting. Then again, I suppose stopping in a straight line is far easier than stopping...uhm, after a truck comes out of freakin nowhere...
  • I give serious (possibly mad?) props to the driver of that bus. Seconded. The back of that bus fishtailed 3 times, slammed into a wall, and then he just kept on going. Probably happens to him every day on that route. The bus looked empty of passengers though; if it had been full, it wouldn't have fishtailed so much.
  • ...when somebody starts to skid, the cars behind them have no trouble stopping. I mentioned this video to my brother-in-law last night and he said he'd seen one that sounds pretty similar, that is just examples of bad Russian drivers. I wonder if this is the same video.