The Karawanks Tunnel (German: Karawankentunnel, Slovene: Predor Karavanke or Karavanški predor) is a motorway tunnel crossing the Alpine Karawanks mountain range between Austria and Slovenia, with a total length of 7,864 m (4.886 mi; 25,801 ft), 8,019 m (4.983 mi; 26,309 ft) enclosure between the portals.

It connects the Austrian Karawanken Autobahn (A11) from Villach with the A2 motorway leading to Kranj and Ljubljana in Slovenia, decongesting the historic Loibl/Ljubelj and Wurzen/Korensko sedlo mountain passes.

Less than a month after its opening, in late June 1991, the Slovene terminus of the tunnel and its border post at Jesenice were briefly seized by an armoured detachment of the Yugoslav People's Army during the Ten-Day War.

Construction in Slovenia started a year and a half later in the first week of March 2020 after an award dispute which was resolved in the end of 2019.

The construction in Slovenia was delayed but finally started in the beginning of March 2020 since the national review commission of Slovenia, DKOM,[1] canceled the award of contract made with the Turkish contractor Cengiz Insaat which was initially chosen to build the Slovenian side of the tunnel at the end of November 2018.

The winner's chief negotiator, Mehmet Cengiz, subsequently told the media that the contract will be signed in late December.

The CEO of Cengiz İnşaat, Utku Gök, said on Monday before the final negotiations that the construction in Slovenia would still be finished in time with his company.

[18][19] Instead, a special toll (2023 rate) of 8.80 euros[20] (20% VAT included) is imposed on drivers of vehicles up to 3.5 tons for using the tunnel.

Vehicles over 3.5t (trucks, buses, motorhomes) pay toll on Austrian highways based on number of kilometres travelled.

For the 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) section that includes the tunnel a special rate equivalent to 8.6 times the normal one is applied, coming to 16.27-46.36 € incl.