Salmankaş Tunnel
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | Salmankaş Pass, Gümüşhane Province-Bayburt Province, Turkey |
| Coordinates | 40°30′38″N 40°05′42″E / 40.51056°N 40.09500°ECoordinates: 40°30′38″N 40°05′42″E / 40.51056°N 40.09500°E |
| Status | Under construction |
| Route | 29-26 and 69-75 |
| Start | August 23, 2012 |
| Operation | |
| Owner | General Directorate of Highways |
| Traffic | automotive |
| Character | Twin-tube tunnel |
| Technical | |
| Construction | as-yol Yapı A.Ş. |
| Length | 4,150 m (13,620 ft) |
The Salmankaş Tunnel (Turkish: Salmankaş Tüneli) is a road tunnel under construction located on the province border of Gümüşhane and Bayburt connecting the provincial roads 29-26 and 69-75 on the route from Araklı, Trabzon via Dağbaşı, Trabzon to Uğrak, Bayburt in northeastern Turkey.[1][2][3]
Situated on the Mount Salmankaş of Pontic Mountains, it is a 4,150 m (13,620 ft)-long twin-tube tunnel.[4] The cost of the construction, which is carried out by as-yol Yapı A.Ş.,[3][5] is estimated to be 
170 million.[2][3][6]
It was built to bypass the Salmankaş Pass at 2,280 m (7,480 ft) elevation, which is on the ancient Silk Road,[5] with extremely steep incline and to alleviate Black Sea Region's access to Eastern Anatolia Region. The tunnel will also eliminate the six-month-long traffic inaccessibility during the winter months due to harsh climatic conditions by heavy snow fall, icing and fog. It will shorten the route about 16 km (9.9 mi) resulting in a travel time reduction from 2-3.5 hours to 1.5 hours.[2][3][6]
The groundbreaking ceremony was held in presence of Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication Binali Yıldırım on August 23, 2012.[1][2][6] For the construction of the tunnel the New Austrian Tunnelling method (NATM) is being applied.[3] The breakthrough in the tunnel was achieved on November 24, 2013.[4][7]
References
- 1 2 "Bayburt - Araklı Salmankaş Tüneli'nin Temeli Atıldı". Bayburt Bülten (in Turkish). 2012-08-24. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
- 1 2 3 4 "Bayburt – Araklı (Salmankaş) Tüneli için Tören Yapıldı". Araklı Haber (in Turkish). 2012-08-23. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Salmankaş Tüneli ile hayal gerçek oluyor". Türkiye'den Haberler (in Turkish). 2012-12-01. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
- 1 2 "Bayburt Araklı Tüneli Bitti". Bayburt Son Haber (in Turkish). 2013-11-25. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
- 1 2 Williams, Lawrence (2013-08-01). "Cutting the Silk Road: Lawrence Williams Visits the Salmankas Tunnel Site with Tunnel Supervisor Ersin Yilmaz". Tunnels & Tunnelling International. Hifgbeam Business. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
- 1 2 3 "60 yıllık hayal gerçek oluyor!". Habertürk (in Turkish). 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
- ↑ "Salmankaş tüneli açıldı". Büyüyen Türkiye (in Turkish). 2013-11-25. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
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