The Sitina Tunnel is a motorway tunnel in Bratislava

Bratislava

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...

, Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

 on the D2 motorway at the "Lamačská cesta - Staré grunty" section. The tunnel goes under the Little Carpathians

Little Carpathians

The Little Carpathians are a low, about 100 km long, mountain range, part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slovakia, covering the area from Bratislava to Nové Mesto nad Váhom, a very small part called Hundsheimer Berge is situated south of Devín Gate in...

 forest. It is the first two-tube tunnel in Slovakia and by its opening, the entire D2 motorway in Slovakia was completed.

Preparation and facts

The preparation works for both the tunnel and the motorway section began in the 1990s. The route had to be chosen; there were 3 variants:

• 1st variant suggested a motorway along the old road without tunnel
• 2nd variant suggested a shorter tunnel
• 3rd variant suggested a longer tunnel

After studying all the 3 variants, the variant with a shorter tunnel was selected, mainly for environmental reasons. The tunnel from that variant is 1440 m long for the western (right) tube, and 1415 m for the eastern (left) tube. The covered parts near the building of the Slovak Academy of Sciences

Slovak Academy of Sciences

The Slovak Academy of Sciences SAV is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research...

 are 206 m and 216 m long, respectively. The width of the road is 7.5 m, with sidewalks on both sides wide 1 m. The average gradient in the tunnel is 2.34%. The maximum allowed speed will be 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph). The tunnels were built using New Austrian Tunnelling method

New Austrian Tunnelling method

The New Austrian Tunnelling method was developed between 1957 and 1965 in Austria. It was given its name in Salzburg in 1962 to distinguish it from old Austrian tunnelling approach. The main contributors to the development of NATM were Ladislaus von Rabcewicz, Leopold Müller and Franz Pacher...

 (NATM).

Due to construction near built-up areas, several changes had to be made:

• Relocating entrance gate to the Bratislava Zoo
  Bratislava Zoo
  The ZOO Bratislava is a zoo in Bratislava, Slovakia, in the borough of Karlova Ves. It lies in the Little Carpathians forest. As of 2007, the zoo has an area of , and is home to 1307 specimens of 152 animal species. In 2006, the zoo received 203,000 visitors....
  
  , to enable building of the access road
• Demolishing some buildings to make way for the motorway and the objects associated with it
• Rebuilding existing roads at both ends, to enable building access roads and interchanges and connecting them to the tunnel
• Rebuilding some other streets
• Other changes like relocation of electrical wires

The planned costs of the tunnel and of the entire section are 3.5 billions SKK

Slovak koruna

In 1993, coins were introduced in denominations of 10, 20 and 50 haliers, 1, 2, 5 and 10 korunas. The 10 and 20 halier coins were taken out of circulation on 31 December 2003....

 (app. €98.75 mill.), but the final costs have risen to 4.5 billions SKK. 18% of that are paid from the state budget and the rest from a loan provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation

Japan Bank for International Cooperation

The , also known by its acronym, JBIC, is a Japanese public financial institution and export credit agency, and was created on October 1, 1999, through the merging of the Japan Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund ....

 (JBIC).

Construction

In May 2003, construction works began at the motorway section, and in October 2003, works were launched at the tunnel itself by driving from the southeastern portal. In summer 2004, driving began from the northwestern portal as well. Driving was a bit slower than expected due to damaged geological zones, in which stronger lining had to be made. The breakthrough for the western tube was made on February 8, 2005 and for the eastern tube on May 3, 2005. The construction works were finished in December 2005 and technological works followed. The technology testing took place in the first half of year 2007. The tunnel was opened for traffic on 24 June 2007, with a ceremonial opening taking place on 23 June 2007, which included a ride through the tunnel by Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 car, driven by David Coulthard

David Coulthard

David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, , sometimes known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland.Coulthard, who was born in Dumfries and raised nearby in Twynholm, made his Formula One debut in 1994 and won 13 Grands Prix in a career spanning 15 seasons...

.

External links

• Tunnel Sitina