ABSTRACT
The Annie Cordy urban road tunnel (2.5 km) in Brussels, commissioned in 1986, has been completely renovated from 2018 to 2022 under the supervision of Bruxelles Mobilité (contracting authority), the public manager of the Brussels tunnels. Previously, diagnostics had revealed that the tunnel ceiling was damaged as a result of waterproofing defects and concrete pathologies. The pathologies encountered mainly concerned carbonation and chloride ion pollution of the concrete. Part of the work involved the installation of cathodic protection on 23,000 m² of ceiling. This is an effective treatment to stop and prevent corrosion in concrete in aggressive environments. Cathodic protection is part of a curative and preventive approach to the protection of reinforced concrete: the treatment was applied in areas of active corrosion of the reinforced concrete and in areas where pollutants were present, but where there was no corrosion activity.
