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

  • New tunnel Acapulco Bay in Mexico
    May 25, 2016
    Acapulco is to benefit from a new tunnel route to cut congestion. A new road tunnel close to Acapulco Bay will help cut journey times for drivers in this part of Mexico. Both tourists and locals in Acapulco Bay currently experience long journey times at present, with a key problem being congestion on the 12km route from Juan N Alvarez International Airport to the Acapulco Bay beaches. During peak traffic times the journey along the scenic, winding road around the tip of the Cumbres de Llano Largo Mountain t
  • TBM for Gotthard Tunnel drive
    August 9, 2024
    A new TBM will be used to drive the new Gotthard Tunnel tube.
  • Building Egypt's world class Desert Highway
    February 9, 2012
    A huge highway upgrade project will transform the Cairo-Alexandria road link into a world-class connection as Mike Woof reports
  • Building Egypt's world class Desert Highway
    May 3, 2012
    A huge highway upgrade project will transform the Cairo-Alexandria road link into a world-class connection as Mike Woof reports. The work to upgrade the Desert Highway connecting Egypt's sprawling capital Cairo with its major port Alexandria, is one of the country's largest infrastructure projects for many years. This 220km highway link is being widened and improved to cope with the hugely increased traffic volumes resulting partly from Egypt's fast growing vehicle population. The Egyptian economy is strong