The Cankurtaran Tunnel ( tr, Cankurtaran Tüneli), Hopa Cankurtaran Tunnel, is a road
tunnel located in
Artvin Province. It forms part of the
Hopa-
Borçka Highway in northeastern Turkey.
Situated on the Mount Cankurtaran of
Pontic Mountains between the village
Çavuşlu in the
Hopa district to the west and the village of
Çifteköprü in the
Borçka district to the east, it is a -long twin-tube tunnel carrying two lanes of traffic in each direction.
The cost of the construction was estimated to be 100 million.
It was built to bypass the
Cankurtaran Pass at elevation with many
hairpin turn
A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal hai ...
s,
thus improving the connection between the
Black Sea Region
The Black Sea Region ( tr, Karadeniz Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Samsun. Other big cities are Trabzon, Ordu, Tokat, Giresun, Rize, Amasya and Sinop.
It is bordered by the Marmara Region to the ...
and
Eastern Anatolia Region, and thus to the
Middle Eastern countries. The tunnel also eliminates weather-induced traffic congestion due to heavy snow fall, icing and fog. Finally, it shortened the existing route by about .
The groundbreaking ceremony took place in the presence of
Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication Binali Yıldırım
Binali Yıldırım (; born 20 December 1955) is a Turkish politician who served as the 27th and last Prime Minister of Turkey from 2016 to 2018 and Speaker of the Grand National Assembly from 2018 to 2019. He was Leader of the Justice and Dev ...
on 29 October 2010, the
Republic Day.
The breakthrough was achieved in presence of
Minister of Customs and Trade Hayati Yazıcı on 16 March 2014;
the tunnel was opened to traffic on 1 March 2018 by Turkish
Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication Ahmet Arslan.
References
Road tunnels in Turkey
Transport in Artvin Province
Hopa District
Borçka District
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