Tunnel Bôrik below the High Tatras drilled through

The key moment of the D1 Mengusovce – Jánovce construction.

(Mengusovce, 11. December 2007, Anton Oberhauser)  – The first finished double-tube tunnel on the D1 motorway will be the 996 meters long Bôrik tunnel in 2009, a part of the D1 section Mengusovce – Jánovce. The ceremonial drill through of the tunnel was made today by the Swiss company Marti Contractors Ltd. that is a member of the consortium  building the motorway under the leadership of Inžinierske stavby, a. s.

The consortium builds the western, 8 kilometres long part of the D1 motorway leading from Mengusovce to the outskirts of the town of Poprad. The construction started in April 2006, a bit later than the other two parts leading from Poprad to Jánovce. Drilling of the tunnel started in December a year ago. The tunnel, which is from a technical point of view “a hard nut to crack”, will go through the Bôrik mountain range and will significantly reduce the time of driving from Štrba to Svit when compared with the existing road.

The tunnel, except for short sections located at the portals, was driven using the NATM method (a new Austrian method of tunnel driving) that uses drilling and blasting, and the tunnel will feature also other modern technologies.

The entire 8 km long section managed by the Inžinerske stavby company and Marti Contractors will be completed in April 2009. The investor is the National Highway Company. The contract amounts to over 3,3 billion Slovak crowns (incl. VAT). The construction is financed from the Cohesion Fund of the European Union, by European Investment Bank, and the state budget of the Slovak Republic.

The section leading from Mengusovce to Poprad includes 11 bridges and the Poprad grade-separated interchange will become its significant dominant feature. The entire D1 motorway section from Mengusovce to Jánovce will be 25,85 km long.

The Inžinierske stavby, a. s. company, Košice was established in 1951. Currently it is the second largest building company in Slovakia and ranks among the most important contractors of the National Highway Company. Besides construction of roads and bridges the company focuses also on the construction of sewerage systems and WWTPs, gas lines, waterworks, and other construction projects. In 2004 a French group, Colas, one of the world leaders in the area of road construction, became a majority shareholder in the company.