Kırkgeçit Tunnels

37°34′58″N 34°45′00″E / 37.58278°N 34.75000°E / 37.58278; 34.75000 Route O-21 E90OperationOpenedMarch 12, 2009; 15 years ago (2009-03-12)OperatorGeneral Directorate of HighwaysTrafficautomotiveTechnicalNo. of lanes2 x 3Operating speed80 km/h (50 mph)

Kırkgeçit Tunnels (Turkish: Kırkgeçit Tünelleri, literally "Forty-Passes tunnels") are a series of seven motorway tunnels crossing the Taurus Mountains on the province border of Niğde and Adana, Turkey.

The tunnels are located on the Ankara-Tarsus motorway O-21 E90 between Kemerhisar and Pozantı connecting the Central Anatolia Region with the Mediterranean Region. Five of the tunnels in the north are in Niğde Province while the remaining two are situated in Adana Province. All the seven tunnels are twin bores and carry three lanes of traffic in each direction. 16 viaducts named Kırkgeçit Viaducts connect the tunnels in series. Dangerous goods carriers are not permitted to use the tunnels.^[1] The Çakıt Tunnel follows the Kırkgeçit-7 Tunnel in direction Pozantı.

The tunnels were constructed as part of the motorway O-21 and were opened to traffic on March 12, 2009. The tunnels allow the travel time of the passage through the mountainous terrain drop from one-and-half hours before to 20 minutes. A saving of ₺110 million annually is calculated for the national economy. The tunnels enable a through-traffic on motorways from the Bulgarian border Kapıkule to the border crossings to Syria and Iraq.^[2]

Tunnel	Motorway	Length (bore #1-bore #2)	Province
Kırkgeçit-1	O-21 E90	941–958 m (3,087–3,143 ft)	Niğde
Kırkgeçit-2		584–548 m (1,916–1,798 ft)
Kırkgeçit-3		255–286 m (837–938 ft)
Kırkgeçit-4		630–439 m (2,067–1,440 ft)
Kırkgeçit-5		651–652 m (2,136–2,139 ft)
Kırkgeçit-6		855–816 m (2,805–2,677 ft)	Adana
Kırkgeçit-7		534–526 m (1,752–1,726 ft)

See also

• List of motorway tunnels in Turkey
• Çakıt Tunnel

References

External links

Road tunnelsRailway tunnelsRoad-rail tunnelsWater tunnelsHistorical tunnels