Norra Länken is a three-kilometer, four-lane highway tunnel in northern Stockholm, Sweden. It is the next link in the circular highway system already underway around the city. The estimated construction time is eight years and estimated cost is $1 billion.

This was the first job where SWECO’s client, the Swedish Road Administration, specified in the contract that all design be done in 3D, so one of the essential goals for this project was to develop a procedure for 3D design that could link all design disciplines. Engineers and designers from the various disciplines worked on their preferred CAD platform, including MicroStation and AutoCAD. MicroStation then provided the necessary interoperability to reference DGN and DWG files to one 3D master file.