30 years after the start of construction work on the Karavanke tunnel, the tunnel is now once again in the focus of Slovenia's construction industry. Completing the tunnel will be even more demanding than its initial construction because of the impact the two tubes will have on each other, is the opinion of Marko Žibert, a construction project leader in many demanding projects both at home and abroad.
The construction work on the only one-tube tunnel in Slovenia's highway network will run simultaneously on both the Slovenian and Austrian side. The work is to last five years.

Slovenia’s investment in the project will exceed 180 million euros. The planned spatial arrangement on the Slovenian side of the border envisages the construction of a new tube 3,546 meters long. 3,446 meters of that length will be under the ground. A missing part of the highway section between the entrance to the tunnel and the toll station, approximately 620 meters long, will also be constructed. The work is valued at 151,6 million euros without VAT.

In July last year Slovenia and Austria received 7,5 million euros in non-refundable funds from the CEF Connecting Europe Facility for the tunnel’s second tube construction project. The European Commission acknowledged the project as an important step in eliminating a critical traffic bottleneck and ensuring a higher level of traffic safety in the tunnel.