Skip to main content

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.

Related Content

  • Norway’s record breaking undersea road tunnel
    February 25, 2015
    The world's deepest road tunnel is currently in construction near Stavanger in Norway but is only the prelude to even larger projects - report and photographs by Adrian Greeman. Norway's convoluted coastline of fjords and high mountains is famously scenic but also a major problem for transport and connections. The country has long experience of constructing tunnels as a result. Now a series of tunnels underway, or in design, around the oil industry city of Stavanger will stretch its skills more than usual.
  • Brazil Tamoio highway and São Sebastião tunnel work
    July 5, 2016
    Brazil’s Tamoio Highway and São Sebastião tunnel construction is of major importance – Mauro Nogarin reports. The modernisation and expansion of Brazil’s Tamoio highway is a major project for Brazil. The project has an estimated cost of $1.5 billion and work on the first section from Planalto was completed in January 2014, costing around $350 million. The project is being managed by the state-owned agency DERSA, which deals with road development. According to the concessionaire for the Tamoios highway p
  • Mumbai’s new coastal transport link
    July 6, 2022
    Mumbai’s new coastal road presents an ambitious and challenging project that will help improve the lives of the city’s inhabitants - Mike Woof writes
  • JP Autoceste eyes 2020 as completion date for Bosnia’s Corridor 5c
    March 3, 2016
    Around two-thirds of the Corridor 5c motorway project is expected to be completed by 2020, according to the director of the Bosnian motorways company JP Autoceste. Jasmin Buco said that 120km out of 337km of the motorway are complete. The corridor section, to connect Budapest with Ploce port in Croatia, is taking the most time. He said that the cost of the remaining part of the motorway is expected to be around €2.81 billion.