Concreting of Roadway of Both Tunnel Tubes in Visnove Tunnel Completed

Visnove, 22 July (TASR) - The concreting of both tunnel tubes in the more than seven-kilometre Visnove motorway tunnel (Zilina region) has been completed, Transport Minister Jozef Raz (a Smer-SD nominee) stated on Tuesday, adding that the work on the Lietavska Lucka-Dubna Skala D1 motorway section is thus moving into the pre-final stage. "We've passed a significant milestone of this construction. A few hours ago the 'finisher' came out of the second tunnel tube, and we have a concrete roadway in both tunnels. This is a significant step towards handing over this structure as soon as possible. The contractual deadline is February 2026, but we're still hopeful that it will be done by the end of the year," added the minister. According to general director of the National Highway Company (NDS) Filip Machacek, the completion of the concreting of the roadway in both tunnel tubes is an important milestone in order to be able to continue with further follow-up work. "There are 720 kilometres of cables, of which 560 kilometres have been laid. We have 1,039 LED lights, two-thirds of which have been installed. Of the 84 fans, 42 have been installed. The crucial part is now up to the contractor for the technological part of the tunnel. That six months will be extremely challenging to get what we want," added Machacek. The Visnove tunnel will have a total length of 7.5 kilometres and will be the longest tunnel in Slovakia. "When you consider that the exploratory shaft started to be drilled in 1998, 13 transport ministers, including myself, have taken turns at this site. We're doing our best to ensure that our administration finally winds up the story of Visnove," stressed Raz. am/df