The National Highway Company (NDS) announced a public tender to select a contractor to provide the project documentation for the Karpaty tunnel (a tunnel under the Carpathian Mountains) on the planned D4 motorway as part of the northern bypass around Bratislava , announced on social media.
Transport Minister Jozef Ráž(a Smer-SD nominee), who is running for mayor of the capital in the autumn elections believes that the Karpaty Tunnel would do more than any other project to improve traffic in Bratislava.
According to analyses, the tunnel would absorb 40 percent of transit lorry traffic in Bratislava. "If you currently go through the Sitina Tunnel or over the Lanfranconi Bridge, every second lorry you encounter there would disappear," said the Transport Minister, adding that the project would significantly benefit everyone.
NDS is currently carrying out geological and hydrogeological surveys along the planned route of the Karpaty Tunnel for some €18 million (ex-VAT). The construction of the D4-motorway section between Bratislava's borough of Raca and Zahorska Bystrica, which will include the Karpaty Tunnel, has been classified as a strategic investment. The 11.76-kilometre tunnel is planned to form part of a northern bypass around Bratislava. The construction costs are estimated at some €1.7 billion. The start of the project area is located north-east of Bratislava-Raca, while the tunnel's exit is planned to be located north-west of the village of Marianka.
Source: TASR
