€1.5 billion Slovakian road tunnel

 The €1.5 billion Karpaty Tunnel project in Slovakia will boost transport, running under the Carpathian Mountains. This will be around 11km in length, making it the second longest road tunnel in Europe.  

The tunnel will form part of the Bratislava bypass, cutting the journey time to Vienna and connecting to Austria’s S8 Expressway. The Karpaty Tunnel will connect the boroughs of Raca and Zahorska Bystrica to the north of Bratislava.  

The bypass reduces the problem of congestion in Bratislava, cutting journey times. The cost of the project has climbed however and was previously expected to cost around €1 billion to build.  

The plans call for the tunnel to be driven using a TBM instead of using drill and blast techniques as has been favoured in Slovakia previously. The alignment of the tunnel runs under the Small Carpathian mountain range and the project is being managed by Slovakia’s national roads company, NDS.