The tunnel is part of the M34 highway and connects the Tajik capital to the country's second largest city, Khujand.

Tajikistan-Uzbekistan relations post-independence have been characterized as tense due to a number of factors, including concerns over incomplete border demarcation, water use disputes, and nationalist and irrendentist sentiment.

[2] Strict visa requirements and unilateral restrictions on transportation access limited cross-border trade and movement of people; this was particularly concerning for Tajikistan, as most of the country's imports pass via railway through Uzbekistan.

[3] Prior to the tunnel's opening, the road between Dushanbe and Khujand across the Hisar Range was impassable for much of the year due to high-altitude winter conditions.

The main route between the two cities, constructed during the Soviet period, passed through Uzbekistan; border closures on the Uzbek side often prevented transit of this route by Tajikistani citizens, effectively severing the connection between Tajikistan's two largest cities for nearly half of each year.