Rennsteig Tunnel (German: Rennsteigtunnel) is the longest road tunnel in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

with a length of 7,878 meters (4.919 mi). The Rennsteig Tunnel is part of the motorway Autobahn A 71 between Gräfenroda and Oberhof in

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. It is also called the ''Christiane Tunnel'' for its "godmother" Christiane Herzog, wife of the former German President

Roman Herzog Roman Herzog (; 5 April 1934 – 10 January 2017) was a German politician, judge and legal scholar, who served as the president of Germany from 1994 to 1999. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the first president to be elec ...

. The tunnel was built between 26 June 1998 and 5 July 2003, when it was opened by German chancellor

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

. It was part of the traffic project ''German unity'' (''"Verkehrsprojekt Deutsche Einheit"'') and cost 210 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s. The German automobile club

ADAC The ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest automobile association. The ADAC is the largest wikt:Verein, ''verein'' (club) in Germany, with around 21 million members. Its headquarters are located i ...

voted the Rennsteig Tunnel in 2004 as

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's safest tunnel.

External links

Rennsteig Tunnel website in German
Road tunnels in Germany Buildings and structures in Ilm-Kreis Tunnels completed in 2003 Buildings and structures in Schmalkalden-Meiningen 2003 establishments in Germany Transport in Thuringia Thuringian Forest {{Germany-transport-stub