Las Raíces 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 ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. It is the longest of the very few tunnels in the southern

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

and is the second longest of South America (after the 2006 inauguration of the long tunnel ''Fernando Gómez Martínez'' in Colombia). It is located about south of

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital city, capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's Chilean Central Valley, central valley and is the center ...

on the paved Route 181-CH connecting the city of

Temuco Temuco () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune, capital (political), capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago de Chile, Santiago. The cit ...

with the

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland *Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *El Paso, Texas, a city which translates to "The Pass" * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see Li ...

Pino Hachado towards

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. As such, the tunnel serves as a link between the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

and

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

s, from

Lebu Lebu may refer to: * Lebu, Chile, a city and capital of the Arauco Province of the Biobio Region of Chile * Lebu River, located in the Arauco Province of the Biobio Region of Chile * LEBU, acronym for Large Eddy Break Up * Libu or Lebu, Egyptian te ...

in Chile to

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: ''White Bay''), colloquially referred to by its own local inhabitants as simply Bahía, is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires province of Argentina, centered on the northwestern end of the eponymous Blanc ...

in Argentina. It is long, located above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

and was inaugurated in 1939. This tunnel allows only one-way traffic, which is regulated by a toll station where a fee of 400

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, as well as the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries of the Americas, the symbol commonly known a ...

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

) per car is charged. Its average traffic is about 450 vehicles daily, including some heavy fuel trucks coming from Argentina. An alternative to this tunnel is the old scenic gravel road ''Cuesta de Las Raíces'' to be taken northwards about before the western or before the eastern entrance. Feasibility studies began in 1911, with final blueprints ready in 1929. Construction began in 1930 and lasted eight years, with an investment of more than 32 million

Chilean peso The peso is the currency of Chile. The current peso has circulated since 1975, with a Chilean peso (1817–1960), previous version circulating between 1817 and 1960. Its symbol is defined as a letter S with either one or two vertical bars super ...

s of that time. It is wide and high. The railway from Púa to Lonquimay operated through it from 1956 till the 1990s.

Sources

*http://edelect.latercera.cl/medio/articulo/0,0,3255_5666_107831743,00.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20080317071727/http://lonquimay.relacionarse.com/index.php/147146

References

Tunnels in Chile Buildings and structures in Araucanía Region Transport in Araucanía Region Tunnels completed in 1956 Road tunnels in South America {{Chile-struct-stub