The newly built tunnel Karaula between Sarajevo and Tuzla has been opened to traffic today. This is a section Kladanj - Podpaklenik on the main road M-18. A use of the new road will shorten the journey between the two cities, about 3 kilometers. The total length of newly built road is 4,246 m and consists of four bridges with a total length of 675 m, Karaula tunnel length 902 m and 2,669 m route. The section is designed for driving with an average speed of 80 km / h, the width of the road is 2x3,25 m, while the slow lane has a width of 3 m.
 

Fig. 1 The new Karaula tunnel on the road M-18

Work on the tunnel Karaula began in the mid-2014, and was excavated in January 2015. The tunnel is being built by the company Strabag AG Austria in partnership with the local company Entea Ltd. Sarajevo. The value of the works was more than 12 mil EUR including VAT and the investor is the Public Company Roads of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Further steps
The future construction predicts the section that connects the main road M-18 with tunnel Karaula and involves the construction of an additional part of the route of the total length of 1,506 meters and the construction of two bridges length of 279 m and 130 m. With the program 'Modernization of roads in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2016th to 2020th', contracting works will be followed by the realization of the loan of the European Investment Bank.