Bulgaria to get Europe’s longest road tunnel

The longest road tunnel in Europe will be built along the new 65 kilometre stretch of the Struma highway in Bulgaria. Two tunnels, totalling almost 37 kilometres, will be built underneath the Kresna gorge between the towns of Blagoevgrad and Sandanski. The 150 kilometre Struma highway runs from the village of Daskalovo to the Greek border and is part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor IV and the Trans-European North-South Highway. The tunnels are required for environmental reasons and will be
March 13, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The longest road tunnel in Europe will be built along the new 65 kilometre stretch of the Struma highway in Bulgaria.  Two tunnels, totalling almost 37 kilometres, will be built underneath the Kresna gorge between the towns of Blagoevgrad and Sandanski.  

The 150 kilometre Struma highway runs from the village of Daskalovo to the Greek border and is part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor IV and the Trans-European North-South Highway.

The tunnels are required for environmental reasons and will be dug 30 metres underground. The projected cost is US$1.3 billion.

“This is the longest tunnel facility in Europe and the second longest in the world,” said minister of Regional Development Desislava Terzieva.  She also said that tenders for the construction will be issued by the middle of this year and will continue through 2014, and the Struma highway will be toll free.   

The project also includes three helipads suitable for emergency evacuation, a control centre for servicing the two tunnels and the highway with winter maintenance equipment, ambulances, fire apparatus and surveillance cameras.
Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • How ITS weathers the storm on I-80
    September 7, 2021
    Weather-related closures on Wyoming’s I-80 can cost as much as $11.7m each. But a new initiative is harnessing V2X technology to prevent snow shutting things down
    Read More
  • Siemens tests eHighway system
    August 7, 2014
    Siemens, in conjunction with Volvo, is to trial an eHighway system on a two-mile stretch of highway in California in the vicinity of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The company was awarded the contract by Southern California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) with the objectives of eliminating local emissions, reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and cutting the operating costs of trucks. The two ports are seeking an emission-free solution, Zero Emission I-710 Project, for a
    Read More
  • Cost benefit: Toronto retimings tame traffic trauma
    July 11, 2018
    Canada’s largest city reckons that it is saving its taxpayers’ money simply by altering the way traffic lights work. David Crawford reviews Toronto’s ambitious plans to ease congestion. Toronto, Canada’s largest metropolis (and the fourth largest in North America), has saved its residents CAN$53 (US$42.4) for every CAN$1 (US$0.80) spent over a 2012-2016 traffic signal retiming programme, according to figures released by its Transportation Services Division. The programme covered 1,275 signals (the city’s to
    Read More
  • High hopes for Detroit streetcar system
    June 12, 2013
    Detroit, the historic home of the US automotive industry, is to get a new streetcar rail system to help drive the economic revival of Motor City. M-1 Rail, the organisation overseeing the US$140 million project, has been pursuing an aggressive timetable toward a late 2015 service launch. “We are now jumping out of the gate,” says Heather Carmona, M-1 Rail’s chief administrative officer. Final design could be completed by mid-August and, depending on when the necessary permits are secured, construction coul
    Read More

Highlighted Content