The last 150m of Slovakia’s Čebrať Tunnel should be completed by the end of this year.
The 3.5km-long tunnel through the Slovakia’s Čebrať Hills is part of the D1 motorway Ružomberok bypass project between Hubova and Ivachnova. The national motorway company NDS also noted that work is continuing on the western portal of the tunnel.
The Ružomberok bypass project is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 and will cut the journey between the two towns by over 16 minutes. It was supposed to be completed in 2017.
However, the project, originally to be only 2km long, had to be redesigned to 3.5km due to a landslide around the western portal of the tunnel. As a result the cost of the project increased to over €290 million (US$335.2 million).
Construction works are being carried out by the Slovak-Czech consortium Vahostav-SK and OHL ZS.
For a video of work on the tunnel, click here.
Ružomberok, with a population of around 45,000 including its surrounding area, is in the Liptove region in northern Slovakia. It lies around 260km from the Slovakian capital Bratislava.
Earlier this year, Swedish contractor Skanska started on a €255 million deal for work on the 13.5km D1 highway stretch between Lietavská Lúčka and Dubná Skala. It includes construction of the Višňové Tunnel, the longest road tunnel in Slovakia and which will help reduce journey times in the area around Žilina.
