Status Under construction Work begun 2012 | Route D-925 Opened late 2017 (est.) | |
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Location İkizdere, Rize Province - İspir, Erzurum Province Coordinates Mt. Ovit Tunnel
Location of Mount Ovit Tunnel in Turkey. Owner General Directorate of Highways | ||
Mount Ovit Tunnel (Turkish: Ovit Dağı Tüneli), is a highway tunnel under construction at Mount Ovit between İkizdere, Rize Province and İspir, Erzurum Province in northeastern Turkey. With its length of 14,346 m (47,067 ft) (including 1,369 m cut and cover avalanche tunnel) in twin tubes, it will be the country's second longest tunnel after New Mount Zigana Tunnel.
The tunnel was projected to connect Erzurum with Rize in order to enable Eastern Anatolian's access to the Black Sea. The first gateaway project dates back to 1880 during the Ottoman Empire times, without going into realization. In 1930, a highway was built with a workforce of 1,500 people who connected İspir with İkizdere, passing over Mount Ovit, which is 2,640 m (8,660 ft) high. The current route D-925, however, it was built to bypass the Ovit Pass at 2,640 m (8,660 ft) elevation.
The construction works of Mount Ovit Tunnel and its connection roads started with a groundbreaking ceremony held on May 12, 2012 in presence of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It was planned that the tunnel would be opened to traffic in 2015, but later the opening date was set to 2017. After completion, Mount Ovit Tunnel is expected to become the world's 6th longest highway tunnel.