The Toyo Tunnel (officially the Guillermo Gaviria Echeverri Tunnel) is a road tunnel in Antioquia, Colombia between

Giraldo Giraldo is a Spanish and Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alejandra Giraldo (born 1984), Colombian journalist, newscaster and social commentator * Andrés Giraldo (born 1989), a Colombian footballer * Blas Giraldo Reyes ...

and Cañasgordas that is currently under construction. Excavation of the tunnel began in mid-2018, and was finished in October 2023. Roads to and from the tunnel are being built by the government of Antioquia, and the tunnel is projected to open in 2027. The Toyo Tunnel crosses the , a part of the Cordillera Occidental, the most westerly of the three branches of the

Andes mountain range The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

in Colombia. At 9.73 km, it will be the longest road tunnel in the Americas when it opens.

History

The Toyo Tunnel was first proposed in 2002, as part of the project. The plans were finalised at the 2007 and 2010 Andean Tunnel Seminars (Spanish: ). The construction plan split the project into two sections, the first being built by the government of

Antioquia Antioquia is the Spanish form of Antioch. Antioquia may also refer to: * Antioquia Department Antioquia () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders th ...

and including the Toyo Tunnel, and the second being built by Invías, the road construction agency of the Colombian national government. Both sections were originally projected to be complete by 2026. The tunnel is officially named for Colombian engineer , father of

Guillermo Gaviria Correa Guillermo Gaviria Correa (November 27, 1962, Medellín – May 5, 2003) was the state governor of Antioquia, a province of over 6 million people in northwestern Colombia. Kidnapped by FARC guerrillas during a march against violence on April 21, ...

Aníbal Gaviria Aníbal Gaviria Correa (born 16 January 1966) is a Colombian politician who has served as the governor of Antioquia since 2020. Prior to this, Gaviria was the Mayor of Medellín from 2012 to 2015 and served as a visiting scholar at University ...

, and ; he had the idea of a tunnel under the in 1980. Excavation of the tunnel began in mid-2018, and was finished on 6 October 2023. In November 2023 Invías reported that section 2 of the project was 45% complete, and that they had only budget enough to work until the following Spring; the government of

Gustavo Petro Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego (; born 19 April 1960) is a Colombian politician who is the 34th and current president of Colombia since 2022. Upon inauguration, he became the Pink tide, first left-wing president in the History of Colombia, recen ...

then decided not to allocate more budget to the project. The contract for section 2 was ceded to the government of Antioquia in January 2025, and work restarted on 13 January. At that point, section 1 was reported as 96% complete, and section 2 as 57% complete. The Toyo Tunnel is projected to open in 2027.

Purpose

The tunnel will allow travel between

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

and Urabá in hours. One benefit of this will be a shorter connection between the (projected to open in 2025) and Medellín.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Road tunnels in Colombia Buildings and structures in Antioquia Department