Second tunnel tube

An important traffic artery and a national symbol

The moment of the breakthrough on the Slovenian side.

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

The Karawanken Tunnel is not just the scene of kilometers of traffic jams in the summer months. It also connects Slovenia with Carinthia, Austria and consequently with the European Union both economically and politically. The expansion of the tunnel's capacity is intended to help the regions grow closer together.

When the first plans for the Karawanken Tunnel were drawn up in the 1970s, nobody in Slovenia could have imagined today's situation: instead of a Tito dictatorship, a member of a union of states stretching all the way to the Arctic. The independent Republic of Slovenia and the Karawanken Tunnel are the same age. A good three weeks after the opening on June 1, 1991, our neighbor declared its independence. "The mountain ridge used to divide us, now it connects us," explains Prime Minister Robert Golob at the tunnel breakthrough for the east tunnel. "We are overcoming borders and helping society."

18 million

That's how many vehicles have passed through the Karawanken Tunnel since it opened in 1991. The second tube is immensely important for both Slovenia and Carinthia.

Around 200 workers have been working in the Karawanken since August 2020 - in shifts of up to 20 hours a day. The project was realized by the Turkish construction company Cengiz. "This is quite fitting, as a Turkish citizen drove the first vehicle through the tunnel in 1991," says David Skornšek, CEO of the Slovenian highway company. "After 18 million vehicles, the expansion was urgently needed. The focus is on connecting, and the breakthrough is symbolic of this."

Our southern neighbor is a little annoyed that the Austrian side was finished earlier. "Of course we would have preferred it earlier, but contractual problems led to this delay," admits Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek. The construction work itself also faced challenges: On one occasion, financial problems caused construction to stop, and on another, an unexpected ingress of water.

Governor Peter Kaiser was also present at the ceremony on the Slovenian side. "The tunnel is a real generational project, which fortunately will soon be completed. Only time will tell whether it will lead to a calming of traffic or act as a magnet," says Kaiser thoughtfully.

Der Karawankentunnel

Ein Nadelöhr seit über 30 Jahren

Whether it's Easter, Ascension Day, Corpus Christi or simply a weekend in June, July or August, anyone traveling to Šplit or Krk from the north is already familiar with the picture: trucks and cars lined up for miles in front of the tunnel tube. Since its opening in June 1991, hundreds of thousands of travelers, especially our German neighbors, use the direct route through the Karawanken to the south every year.

Traffic jams in front of the toll station are part of everyday life on the border between Carinthia and Slovenia in summer.

(Bild: EXPA)

Sometimes water bottles and coloring books have to be handed out to waiting families to prevent tragedies in traffic jams. No wonder, when around 30,000 vehicles a day want to cross the border into Slovenia at the weekend in the summer months - outside the peak travel season, the figure is still around 10,000. In 2016, Asfinag even distributed 106,000 half-litre bottles and almost 20,000 pieces of "travel entertainment" for the little ones on eight weekends in July and August. The extent to which the second tunnel tube and the doubling of lanes can provide relief will ultimately only become clear in the fall of 2028.