Kresna Gorge Tunnel was a planned twin-tube tunnel in

Blagoevgrad Province Blagoevgrad Province (, ''oblast Blagoevgrad'' or Благоевградска област, ''Blagoevgradska oblast''), also known as Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia (), (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is a province ('' ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. The tunnel would be part of

Struma motorway The Struma Motorway (, ) is a motorway currently under construction in Bulgaria. The motorway is located in the Yugozapaden area in South West Bulgaria, and follows the route Sofia-Pernik- Dupnitsa-Blagoevgrad-Sandanski to Kulata on the border ...

(''A3''), that runs between

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

and the border crossing to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, at the village of

Kulata Kulata ( , , ) is a village in Petrich Municipality, Blagoevgrad Province, in southwestern Bulgaria. it has 892 inhabitants and the mayor is Dimitar Manolev. The village is a major border checkpoint on the border with Greece. The community of ...

. The proposed length of the tunnel of over 15 km would place it among the longest road tunnels in the world. The main reason to build a motorway tunnel of such length was to protect the environment in the

Kresna Gorge Kresna Gorge () is a steep valley in south-western Bulgaria, stretching about . The gorge has been formed by the Struma River, which flows from the Vitosha mountains. Kresna gorge has a rich biodiversity, which has come under pressure from the ...

. The design works of the tunnel began in 2013. The construction was expected to begin in 2016, using the

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 ...

due to the diverse geology in the Kresna gorge, which makes the usage of TBM inapplicable. The construction costs along with the access roads were estimated at 1.1 billion levs (~560 million euro). As of 2015, plans were abandoned and an alternative route east of the gorge is being considered, which will involve a series of shorter tunnels and viaducts.

References

External links

Presentation of Kresna Gorge Tunnel
''at NCSIP'', June 2014 (in Bulgarian)
Alternative Alignments (2011)
''at NCSIP''
Strategy for Construction (2011)
''at NCSIP''
Contract for Conceptual Design (29 July 2013)
.pdf, ''at NCSIP'' (in Bulgarian) Motorways in Bulgaria Proposed roads in Bulgaria Proposed road tunnels in Europe Proposed transport infrastructure in Bulgaria Tunnels in Bulgaria {{Bulgaria-road-stub