Status Under construction Traffic automotive | Work begun October 29, 2010 Length 5,228 m (17,152 ft) | |
Location Çavuşlu, Hopa - Çifteköprü, Borçka in Artvin Province, Turkey Character Twin-tube highway tunnel Owner General Directorate of Highways | ||
The Cankurtaran Tunnel (Turkish: Cankurtaran Tüneli), a.k.a. Hopa Cankurtaran Tunnel, is a road tunnel under construction located in Artvin Province as part of the Hopa-Borçka Highway in northeastern Turkey.
Situated on the Mount Cankurtaran of Pontic Mountains between Çavuşlu village of Hopa district in the west and Çifteköprü village of Borçka district in the east, it is a 5,228 m (17,152 ft)-long twin-tube tunnel carrying two lanes of traffic in each direction. The cost of the construction is estimated to be 100 million.
It was built to bypass the Cankurtaran Pass at 690 m (2,260 ft) elevation with many hairpin turns, and to alleviate Black Sea Region's access to Eastern Anatolia Region and consequently to Middle Eastern countries. The tunnel will also eliminate the traffic burden that emerges from climatic conditions such as heavy snow fall, icing and fog. It will shorten the route about 12 km (7.5 mi).
The groundbreaking ceremony took place in presence of Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication Binali Yıldırım on October 29, 2010, the Republic Day. The breakthrough was achieved in presence of Minister of Customs and Trade Hayati Yazıcı on March 16, 2014.