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2. PLANNING AND INVESTIGATION

1 General

1.1 Fundamentals of Planning

The planning of a tunnel shall take the following into consideration; the function of the
tunnel, ground conditions, location conditions, the necessity and arrangement of working drifts,
safety of construction, impact on the surrounding environment, economic efficiency, etc.

[Commentary]
The plan for a tunnel shall be determined to fulfill the function for which it is intended, and
research of ground conditions, location conditions, the necessity and arrangement of working
drifts are necessary to maintain safety in the construction stage and to minimize the impact on
the surrounding environment. General economy efficiency shall be preserved, not only during
construction, but also after completion of the tunnel.
It may be very hard to grasp completely the ground condition, including topography,
geology and groundwater, from the first investigation results, and the original plan may
sometimes be changed by the ground conditions revealed during the construction stage.
Therefore, closer and continuous investigation may be necessary, not only during the planning
stage, but also during construction or maintenance.
However, extensive changes of construction may increase the time required for construction
and the cost, so appropriate research and adequate examination is necessary.
Recently, mountain tunneling method technology has progressed and applied to more tunnels
in urban areas. Meanwhile, ‘Special Measure Law on Public Usage of Deep Underground
Spaces (2000)’ was enacted. In urban tunnel planning, extensive examination might be
necessary including the usage of deep underground spaces.

1.2 Fundamentals of Investigation

(1) Reasearch for tunnels consists of investigating ground conditions and location
conditions. Basic data such as ground conditions and location conditions which will be
necessary in each stage of construction, including route selection, design, construction
and maintenance after completion, shall be collected.
(2) The items to be investigated (sequence, method, precision, duration, data arrangement
and storage method) shall be decided after adequate consideration of purpose of each
stage of construction and the length and cross section of the tunnel.

[Commentary]
(1) The route selection, design, construction, and maintenance and managemnt of tunnels is
strongly affected by ground conditions, location conditions, etc. It is important to obtain
sufficient basic data by various reasearch in order to determine the difficulty of construction,
necessary time and cost of construction, selection of construction method, safety guarantees
and future maintenance.
Generally, ground conditions (see 3.1 of Part 2) and location conditions (see 3.2 of Part 2)
are investigated separately. Investigating ground conditions includes the investigation of the
tunnel and its surrounding topography, geology and hydrology. Investigating location