Austria-Slovenia tunnel project awarded

Construction of the second tube of the Karawanks Tunnel connecting Austria and Slovenia is now going ahead. The work will be headed by Austrian contractors, ARGE Swietelsky Tunnelbau and Swietelsky Baugesellschaft. The 7.8km-long tunnel route runs under the Alpine Karawanks mountain range. The Austrian motorway operator Asfinag is investing around €168 million into the project, while the European Commission is providing €25 million. The work being carried out will include building new rescue routes as wel
August 9, 2018 Read time: 1 min
Construction of the second tube of the Karawanks Tunnel connecting Austria and Slovenia is now going ahead. The work will be headed by Austrian contractors, ARGE Swietelsky Tunnelbau and Swietelsky Baugesellschaft.


The 7.8km-long tunnel route runs under the Alpine Karawanks mountain range. The Austrian motorway operator Asfinag is investing around €168 million into the project, while the European Commission is providing €25 million. The work being carried out will include building new rescue routes as well as installing the latest fire protection facilities and communication systems.

Construction of the first tunnel commences in 1986 and this was opened to traffic in 1991. The tunnel links the Austrian Autobahn A11 from Villach with the A2 highway, running across the border to the Slovenian cities of Kranj and Ljubljana. The road tunnel forms part of the transport axis Munich-Salzburg-Ljubljana-Thessaloniki, also called Pan-European Corridor-X.

Finance & Funding

Related Content

  • EFKON delivers enforcement system for ASFINAG digital vignette
    May 18, 2018
    EFKON has delivered the first enforcement systems to Austria’s road operator ASFINAG for the monitoring of the new digital motorway vignette. EFKON, part of international Austrian contractor STRABAG, provides road toll collection and enforcement systems. The ASFINAG contract uses video technology to electronically identify vehicles that do not comply with the Austrian road tax requirement, explained Thomas Birtel, chief executive of STRABAG. In November, sales began of the digital vignette as a way to pro
    Read More
  • Bolivia’s new highway
    October 10, 2017
    Bolivia’s new highway will provide better access into mountain areas – Mauro Nogarin writes At the beginning of 2015, work began on the construction and paving for the Tupiza - Atocha - Uyuni highway project. The route is located in Bolivia’s Potosí department: it is 189m in length and forms part of the Southwest Basic Road Network (RVF) of Bolivia. The completion of this important route is requiring funding worth US$150 million, of which 72% is being delivered through loans from the European Investment
    Read More
  • Safety barriers deliver valuable road user protection
    February 14, 2012
    Safety barriers provide an invaluable service for all road users, Mike Woof reports The safety barrier market is a key one for the highway sector, with systems providing valuable protection for all categories of road users. The importance of passive protective devices such as safety barriers can often be overlooked by the road user but is well-understood by highway designers. Redirecting an errant vehicle back into the roadway and preventing it from crossing into traffic flowing in the other direction or fr
    Read More
  • UK smart motorway work for M4 link
    September 16, 2019
    Highways England in the UK is carrying out major upgrade work for the busy M4 motorway, running west from capital London. In all 11 bridges are being replaced along a 51km stretch of the M4 between London and Reading. When complete, the current hard shoulder will have been rebuilt and resurfaced to allow traffic to use it as a live lane. The section carrying the heaviest traffic, between the M25 ring road around London and the main exit for Heathrow Airport, will be widened so that it will feature five la
    Read More

Highlighted Content