Mount Bolu Tunnel ( tr, Bolu Dağı Tüneli) is a highway

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

constructed through the

Bolu Bolu is a city in Turkey, and administrative center of the Bolu Province. The population is 131,264 (2012 census). The city has been governed by mayor Tanju Özcan ( CHP) since local elections in 2019. It was the site of Ancient Claudiopolis a ...

Mountain in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

between Kaynaşlı, Düzce and Yumrukaya, Bolu.

Construction

The tunnel is part of the Gümüşova-

Gerede Gerede is a town and a district of Bolu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located on the highway from Istanbul to Ankara (approximately from Ankara, where the road to the Black Sea coast branches off). It covers an area of , and ...

Highway O-4 / E80 within the

Trans-European Motorway The Trans-European Motorways (abbreviated "TEM") are a project of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe of sub-regional cooperation among Central, Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chi ...

project, which was carried out by the Turkish Bayındır and Italian

Astaldi Astaldi S.p.A. is an Italian multinational major construction company based in Rome. The group is active in the fields of civil engineering, hydraulic engineering, Electromechanical Engineering and transportation. Significant subsidiaries incl ...

joint venture since April 16, 1993. The total cost of the tunnel is about US$300 million. It has twin bores carrying three lanes of traffic in each direction. The tunnel crosses the

North Anatolian Fault The North Anatolian Fault (NAF) ( tr, Kuzey Anadolu Fay Hattı) is an active right-lateral strike-slip fault in northern Anatolia, and is the transform boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate. The fault extends westward fro ...

. The November 12, 1999 Düzce earthquake (MW=7.2) caused substantial damage to the tunnel and viaducts, which were under construction at the time of the earthquake. On September 4, 2005 the excavation of the tunnel in the

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

direction was finished. The excavation for the tunnel in the Ankara-Istanbul direction was completed by the beginning of August 2005.

Opening to traffic

The Istanbul-Ankara direction () was opened to traffic on January 23, 2007 by the Turkish Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Prime Minister

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prim ...

. Four months following the initial opening, on May 7, the Ankara-Istanbul direction () became operational. Speed in the tunnel is limited to . Dangerous goods carriers are not permitted to use the tunnel.

References

External links

* Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Server �
''Bolu Viaducts and Tunnel''
* Ankara, Turkish Daily News �
''Mont Blanc sets example for Mt. Bolu Tunnel''
{{Tunnels in Turkey Road tunnels in Turkey Buildings and structures in Düzce Province Transport in Bolu Province Tunnels completed in 2007

Construction

Opening to traffic

See also

References

External links