The Road Tunnels Manual focuses exclusively on the aspects linked to the use of road tunnels (geometry, tunnel equipment and maintenance, operations, safety, environment). The Manual does not cover the civil engineering of tunnels (geology, geotechnics, retaining structure, surfacing, waterproofing, drainage, etc.), except aspects linked to the consequences on the operation and maintenance of the tunnels.

In its first version made available on line in 2011 on the occasion of the 24th World Road Congress in Mexico City, the Manual included and structured the 35 technical reports produced by the Technical Committee on Road Tunnels between 1995 and 2011, and around 20 more recent articles published in the Routes/Roads magazine in the area of tunnels, as well as the documents related to the OECD/PIARC joint research project.

The Manual includes three main sections:

• introduction;
• the second part deals with cross-disciplinary aspects of tunnels;
• the third part is about the characteristics of tunnels with regard to the operational and safety requirements.

The Manual also provides reference to useful websites.

The updated version of the Manual is available in English, French, and Spanish as well as Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese.

A new update of the Road Tunnels Manual is planned at the beginning of 2017 with the addition of the 16 latest reports produced by the Committee.