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Breakthrough on Slovakia’s D1 tunnel near Zilina

Workers in Slovakia have broken through the first of two passages in a tunnel near Zilina as part of an 11km D1 highway project. Breakthrough of the second passage of the tunnel on the section Hricovske Podhradie-Lietavska Lucka will likely be in January. Around 80m are still to be bored, according to a report in the Slovak Spectator on-line newspaper. Zilina is in northwestern Slovakia, around 200km from the capital Bratislava and close to the Czech and Polish borders. Juraj Valent, head of the Na
December 12, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Workers in Slovakia have broken through the first of two passages in a tunnel near Zilina as part of an 11km D1 highway project.

Breakthrough of the second passage of the tunnel on the section Hricovske Podhradie-Lietavska Lucka will likely be in January. Around 80m are still to be bored, according to a report in the Slovak Spectator on-line newspaper.

Zilina is in northwestern Slovakia, around 200km from the capital Bratislava and close to the Czech and Polish borders.

Juraj Valent, head of the National Highway Company (NDS), said the section with its two tunnels and 11 bridges is scheduled for completion by October 2018. Cost is around €427 million, with money coming from the central government and the European Union.

Slovakia’s D1 motorway runs from the western border with the Czech Republic to the eastern border with the Ukraine, a 100km frontier amid remote forested areas. The government has been building and renovating the route since 1985 when a cross-country route was planned in earnest. The D1 also forms part of the European routes E50, E58, E75 E571.

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