Opening of the second tube of the Karawanks cross-border road tunnel

On 18 March 2026, the second tube of the Karawanks motorway tunnel, located on the border between Austria and Slovenia, was officially opened. The new tube complements the original tunnel, operational since 1991, which is about 8 km long and thereby the longest road tunnel in Slovenia.

The CEF Transport project removes an important bottleneck on the motorway connection between the two countries, improving traffic flow within the trans-European transport network on both the A11 motorway in Austria, the A2 motorway in Slovenia and along the Baltic-Adriatic and Mediterranean corridors. 

The previous single-tube Karawanks tunnel had limited capacity, causing traffic congestions, and did not meet modern safety standards. With the construction of the second tunnel, traffic will in the future run in one direction in each tunnel, which will greatly improve road safety and reduce congestions. 

The project also includes innovative features such as generating hydroelectric power from groundwater captured on the Austrian side which will help supply electricity required for operating the systems in the tunnel.

Traffic will temporarily use the new tube while the old one is being refurbished. Currently, both tubes are expected to be operational for unidirectional traffic separated per tube as from April 2029. The project received €17.7 million in EU funding from the CEF Transport programme.