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

  • Zimbabwe highway project faces delay
    July 12, 2018
    The project to build Zimbabwe’s crucial north-south highway link is facing delays, with the contract now having to be re-awarded. The tender was originally awarded to an Austrian firm, Geiger International, but with progress having proven very slow this has been withdrawn. The deal has not yet been re-awarded. But the Zimbabwe Government is at present in discussions with the second bidder from the original tender process, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group Limited (AFECC), over the contract. The hig
    Read More
  • Egypt tunnel project commencing
    September 26, 2016
    Two of Egypt’s largest construction firms will carry out work on a new tunnel link under the Suez Canal. Arab Contractors and Orascom will build the tunnel connection, with twin tubes for motor vehicles and a third link for rail, with the work due for completion in 2018. The work is expected to cost in excess of US$2 billion, although the share of the deal between the two firms has not been revealed. The work forms part of the Suez Canal Corridor Area Project, which was first announced in 2014 and is intend
    Read More
  • Widening and upgrade for highway in Nicaragua’s capital
    January 27, 2017
    Nicaragua is continuing to develop its highway network, this time with a major project planned for the capital, Managua. A loan worth close to US$107.5 million from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) is to help pay for the project. The work calls for the upgrade and widening of the Pista Juan Pablo II route running through Managua. The 9.55km stretch of road will benefit from three additional lanes, helping to boost capacity and reduce congestion and delays at peak periods. Safety pr
    Read More
  • Emergent markets key for formwork sector growth
    May 21, 2014
    Central and south-east Europe are hotbeds for new highway infrastructure projects utilising cutting-edge formwork solutions, while a number of leading formwork manufacturers are also looking at emergent markets for growth. Guy Woodford reports Travelling between Hungary’s capital Budapest and Southern Dalmatia now takes less time thanks to the Pan-European Corridor Vc – European route 73. Numerous tunnels and bridges are erected along the 397km stretch of the European route 73 through Bosnia owing to the
    Read More

Highlighted Content