The longest motorway tunnel in Romania is being built in the West.

Work has begun on Romania’s longest highway tunnel. The new facility, with corridors stretching nearly two kilometers, is being built along the Lugoj–Deva A1 motorway route and will run beneath the hills between Timiș and Hunedoara counties. At the border of the Lugoj–Deva motorway, between Hunedoara and Timiș counties, the second tunnel of the route is taking shape, with a length of almost two kilometers. It consists of two separate sections: a smaller tunnel, which is already at a more advanced phase, and a much longer one. The “large tunnel” (T2) has already had its first few meters excavated in the Holdea–Coșevița area, and the entire 9.14-kilometer motorway section between Holdea (Hunedoara County) and Margina (Timiș County) is set to be completed by the end of 2026. Excavations began in February, starting with the “small tunnel” (T1), whose left corridor is 367.5 meters long and the right corridor is 415 meters long. In the left corridor of the first tunnel, the wall is expected to be broken through from both ends soon, so “the light at the end of the tunnel” will symbolically appear from both directions. According to the statement of the Regional Directorate for Roads and Bridges, work continues on both tunnels; at the second tunnel, the starting portal has already been prepared and actual earthworks have begun.

Construction is also underway on the bridges, viaducts, bed construction, and two crossings belonging to the tunnel section, with nearly 800 workers and 200 machines on site. The large tunnel is approximately four times longer than the smaller one, making its construction a significantly more complex task. According to the motorway plan, the left corridor of T2 will be 1,825 meters long and the right corridor 1,985 meters. Both tubes will be for one-way traffic, each with two lanes, a hard shoulder, service walkway, emergency exits, and service cabins, including an SOS and fire protection system. The portals are being built using the “cover & cut” method, with retaining walls and piles installed. At the west entrance, three large and two smaller stone walls will be built; at the east, four large and two smaller ones will be constructed, after which excavation will continue using machinery until the road platform level is reached. The main section of the tunnel will be built mechanically, using the so-called New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), with continuous geotechnical measurements monitoring the state of the structure and reinforcement adapted to current conditions.

The covered (“cover & cut”) sections are first secured with retaining walls—amounting to 300 meters on the left tube and 73 meters on the right. According to regulations, escape corridors are mandatory in unidirectional tunnels longer than 500 meters: in the case of the first, shorter tunnel, this is not required, but the second, nearly two-kilometer tunnel will feature five pedestrian emergency exits, one of which is suitable for vehicle passage as well. These exits are spaced about every 350 meters. The operator reminds: in such cases, if an incident occurs, the tunnel is automatically closed in both directions, and people are guided through the corridors to the unaffected tube, from which they can safely exit. Excavation on the Lugoj–Deva section of the A1 motorway, on the Margina–Holdea segment, began in February 2025; together with the entire 9.14-kilometer section, work is expected to be completed in 2026. The A1 motorway runs for 100 kilometers, passing through Timiș and Hunedoara counties, partly along the Mureș Valley towards Dobra and then extending onto the Western Plain at the foot of the Poiana Ruscă mountains. By the end of 2019, about 90 kilometers had already been opened to traffic.

On sections D and E, crossed by valley tunnels, works were suspended in 2017; tunnels are now planned for these nearly 9-kilometer-long sectors. During the relaunched public procurement procedure, in 2022, the consortium led by Spedition UMB won the contract for the full design and construction, valued at around 1.8 billion lei, financed by the Romanian state through the Recovery and Resilience Program.