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

  • Highway 99 revisited
    March 6, 2024
    David Arminas recently returned to Seattle for an inside look at some of the features of the now-complete SR99 tunnel that was a World Highways key project report in November 2017.
  • $6.2 billion New Jersey Turnpike project
    May 16, 2025
    Approval is given for the $6.2 billion New Jersey Turnpike project.
  • Russian roads and bridges being planned
    April 22, 2020
    Russian road and bridge construction and maintenance works are being planned.
  • Framework solutions speed bridge construction
    February 24, 2012
    Framework plays a key role in construction of bridges and other major infrastructure works – Mike Woof writes Speeding construction processes can help reduce costs considerably and the latest formwork solutions can provide significant benefits in this regard. In many projects the use of standardized and modular formwork solutions can play a key role, reducing the planning and systems required for bridge building work.