The Branisko Tunnel is a road

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

in eastern

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. It is located on the D1 motorway at

Beharovce Beharovce is a small village and municipality in the Levoča District, Prešov Region. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1338. Geography The municipality lies at an altitude of 474 metres and covers an area of ...

Fričovce Fričovce () is a village and municipality in Prešov District in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1320. One of the oldest breweries in the country can be found there, Zapo ...

section. It replaced the Branisko Pass road via mountain range of the same name, with the top at 751 m

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

.NDS >
Currently only one tube is open to traffic; the second tube is expected to be opened in the future. Construction began when the exploration gallery driving was launched in April 1996 on the axle of the northern (left) tube. The southern tube driving started in May 1997 from both portals using

New Austrian Tunnelling method The new Austrian tunneling method (NATM), also known as the sequential excavation method (SEM) or sprayed concrete lining method (SCL), is a method of modern tunnel design and construction employing sophisticated monitoring to optimize various wa ...

(NATM). Works were slowed in 1999 due to cost cutting for motorway constructions. The breakthrough was made on May 1, 1999. The southern (right) tube of the tunnel with the Beharovce - Fričovce section was opened on June 29, 2003. The tunnel is 4975 m long. The road in the tunnel is 7.5 m wide, with 1 m wide sidewalks on both sides; maximum height is 4.5 m, maximum gradient is 1.2%. The maximum allowed speed in tunnel is 80 km/h.

References

External links

Tunnel Branisko

Tunel Branisko
{{coord, 49, 00, 19.61, N, 20, 52, 31.43, E, dim:3500_scale:35000_region:SK_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Road tunnels in Slovakia Tunnels completed in 1997