Two-thirds of Bulgaria's Zheleznitsa road tunnel already dug - road agency

At present, 670 m of the length of the left tube and 680 m of the right tube have been dug at the northern end of the tunnel, whereas at the southern end excavation works have been completed on 790 m in the left tube and 706 m in the right one, the road agency said in a statement.

Once completed, Zheleznitsa will be Bulgaria's longest motorway tunnel featuring two tubes of about 2 km in length each.

Earlier this month, the road agency said that the construction of the tunnel is expected to be completed in March 2022.

A consortium comprising Bulgarian companies GP Group, Global Construction and Via Plan launched the construction of the tunnel in October 2019, under a 185.4 million levs ($112.0 million/94.8 million euro) contract with RIA. The project benefits from EU funding under Operational Programme Transport and Transport Infrastructure.

The Struma motorway will link Bulgaria's capital Sofia to Kulata checkpoint on the border with Greece. Its construction has been divided into four sections, of which three have already been built.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)