Tauern Road Tunnel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tauern Road Tunnel is a tunnel in Austria with one tube, which was finished 1975 and has a length of 6.401 m. It ranks among the longest usually-traveled road tunnels in Austria. The second tube is has been under construction since July 2006 and will be presumably finished in 2010. The north portal of the Tauerntunnels is at Flachauwinkel (Salzburg), the south portal at Zederhaus. In 2004 the average daily traffic was 17,000 vehicles, a quarter of them were trucks (4,353).
[edit] History
There was a crossing possibility of the low Tauern also in former times already. The lug, which connects the Lands of the Federal Republic Salzburg and Steiermark, originates from the time, when zinc, silver, cobalt and lead were diminished. A more exact dating of the lug in the zinc wall is not possible unfortunately. The lug is only 300 m long and was made accessible by the Austrian Alpine Association.
[edit] Fire
On 29 May 1999 a fire took place in Tauern Road Tunnel, when twelve people were killed. It was caused by a mass crash in which 60 vehicles were involved. It occurred in the morning against five o'clock from a truck, which crashed in a column standing before a traffic light. How consultants could determine, eight people died by the force of the rear end collision, four further victims died from the following fire, which was favoured by the participation of a truck loaded with danger property. The tunnel was so strongly damaged by the heat effect that it had to be closed. In the following three months continuing barrier over the removal of the fire damage going out measures of reorganization, among other things at the tunnel lining, were accomplished lighting, the signaling devices and the ventilation system.
