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Karawanks Tunnel (motorway)

Coordinates: 46°31′09″N 14°01′22″E / 46.51917°N 14.02278°E / 46.51917; 14.02278
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Karawanks Tunnel
Northern entrance, Austria
Overview
LocationSankt Jakob im Rosental, Carinthia, Austria / Hrušica, Municipality of Jesenice, Slovenia
Coordinates46°31′09″N 14°01′22″E / 46.51917°N 14.02278°E / 46.51917; 14.02278
RouteKarawanken Autobahn / A2 motorway
Operation
Work begun1986
Opened1991
OperatorAutobahnen- und Schnellstraßen- Finanzierungs- Aktiengesellschaft (ASFiNAG)
CharacterSingle-tube
Technical
Length7,864 m (25,801 ft)
No. of lanes2
Operating speed80 km/h (50 mph)

The Karawanks Tunnel (Template:Lang-de, Template:Lang-sl) is a motorway tunnel crossing the Alpine Karawanks mountain range between Austria and Slovenia, with a total length of 7,864 m (25,801 ft) (4.89 miles), 8,019 m (26,309 ft) (4.98 miles) enclosure between the portals. Its construction began in 1986 and it opened on June 1, 1991. It connects the Austrian Karawanken Autobahn (A11) from Villach with the A2 motorway leading to Kranj and Ljubljana in Slovenia, decongesting the historic Loibl/Ljubelj and Wurzen/Korensko sedlo mountain passes.

Southern entrance, Slovenia

In the late 1970s it was planned as a two-tube tunnel, (one two-lane tube for each direction), but lower than expected levels of traffic have meant that it has remained a single tube, single lane, two-way tunnel. The tunnel was built between 1986 and 1991 by the Tauern Autobahn stock company at the behest of the Federal Republic of Austria, represented by the State of Carinthia. At its opening it was one of the best equipped tunnels with safety and surveillance systems: emergency phones, fire detectors, video surveillance, traffic signalling, radio and phone connections, air circulation monitoring and carbon monoxide sensors.

Less than a month after its opening, in late June 1991, the Slovene terminus of the tunnel and its border post at Jesenice were briefly seized by an armored detachment of the Yugoslav People's Army during the Ten-Day War. The site witnessed brief but intense fighting, which included the ferrying of reinforcements to the Yugoslav troops by helicopter and culminated in an ineffectual airstrike by the Yugoslav air force. The border checkpoint building was heavily damaged in the crossfire.[citation needed]

Driving on Austrian as well as on Slovenian motorways requires a toll sticker. However, driving through the tunnel doesn't require the austrian one.[1] Instead, a special toll (2016 rate) of 7.20 euros[2] (20% VAT included) is imposed on drivers of vehicles up to 3.5 tons for using the tunnel. The toll is collected for the section from the closest on-ramp to the tunnel on the Austrian side to the Austrian/Slovenian border in the middle of the tunnel.[2]

Vehicles over 3.5t (trucks, buses, motorhomes) pay toll on Austrian highways based on number of kilometres travelled. For the 10 km section that includes the tunnel a special rate 8.6 times higher than normal one is applied, coming to 16.27-46.36 € incl.VAT (13.56-38.63 € + 20% VAT)[3] depending on number of axles and engine emission standard.

Since Slovenia has joined the Schengen Area by the end of 2007, border controls have been abolished. Due to increasing traffic volume especially after the completion of the second tube of the Tauern Road Tunnel in June 2011, congestions crop up, especially on weekends, in the summer season and have led to the resumption of plans to build a second tube. The contract for the second twin tunnel was signed in September 2015, with a expected completion date of 2023.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tarife Sondermaut 2016" (in German). ASFiNAG. Retrieved 30 September 2016. Auf den Sondermautstrecken gibt es keine Vignettenpflicht
  2. ^ a b "Special toll rates 2016". ASFiNAG. Retrieved 30 September 2016. The special toll route is between the St. Jakob im Rosental junction and the national border in the Karawanken Tunnel (Rosenbach toll station)
  3. ^ "Toll rates 2016". ASFiNAG. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
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