Demirkapı Tunnel between Antalya and Konya comes into service at the end of 2022

80 percent of Demirkapı Tunnel is completed. The entire project, where the last 600 meters of the second tube is left, is planned to be delivered at the end of 2022. There is 600 meters left to see the light in the second tube of the Demirkapı Tunnel, which is being built in the form of a 5-kilometer double tube in Akdağ in the İbradı district of Antalya. According to the information received from the General Directorate of Highways, the construction of the Demirkapı Tunnel, which started with a single tube in 2013 between İbradı and Derebucak district of Konya, is going on with the construction of the second tube which started in 2017.

In the project carried out by the Antalya 13th Regional Directorate of Highways, physical studies are coming to an end. The single tube of Demirkapı Tunnel, consisting of 5 thousand meters of double tube, was finished at the final concrete coating level. Excavation-supporting and coating concrete work continues in the second tube.

In the 67-kilometer road works designed in connection with the tunnel, 41 kilometers of divided road, 28 kilometers of hot-bituminous mixture and 13 kilometers of surface coating, were completed in accordance with their standard. Bituminous hot mix coated split road works continue between 0-16 and 33-39 kilometers of the road. In the 12-kilometer service road project, which has started to work around Demirkapı for vehicles carrying hazardous materials, earthworks are also continuing.

80 percent of the physical work in Demirkapı Tunnel has been completed. With the commissioning of the project, the shortest route between Antalya and Konya will be provided. Comfortable transportation facilities established in the region, which is of great importance for tourism with its historical, cultural and natural beauties, will bring more local and foreign tourists with it.

In addition, travel times will decrease in traffic, especially in the summer months, and will save time and fuel by increasing road safety. The drivers traveling on the Konya-Beyşehir-Derebucak-Gembos route will pass through the Gembos and Eynif plains and reach Antalya after the tunnel.

Site workers feel the temperature change at the exit from the tube, whose excavation support has been completed and the concrete production has been completed to a great extent. People who cross the snow-covered northern slope of the mountains that separate the Mediterranean and Central Anatolia to the southern slope in 4 minutes and see the green texture, witness the climate change (transition from the continental climate to the Mediterranean climate) in a short time. While there is rain or snow on the Konya side, the other slope of Akdağ can be sunny and hot. Those traveling through the tunnel, which will be passed in 4 minutes at a speed of 80 kilometers when opened to traffic, will soon feel the difference in climate.

Burkay Gökbaş, Road Construction Control Chief in the 13th Regional Directorate of Highways, stated that “the new route between Konya and Antalya will be gained with the project. The project that will bring Central Anatolia to the Mediterranean will provide a comfortable transportation. It is the shortest way between Konya and Antalya. Our goal is to complete the excavation support and lining concrete works in the tunnel at the end of the year. Next year, we will complete the electronic-electromechanical works in the tunnel. We plan to open the tunnel to service at the end of 2022.80 percent of Demirkapı Tunnel is completed. The entire project, where the last 600 meters of the second tube is left, is planned to be delivered at the end of 2022. There is 600 meters left to see the light in the second tube of the Demir Kapı Tunnel, which is being built in the form of a 5-kilometer double tube in Akdağ in the İbradı district of Antalya. According to the information received from the General Directorate of Highways, the construction of the Demirkapı Tunnel, which started with a single tube in 2013 between İbradı and Derebucak district of Konya, is going on with the construction of the second tube which started in 2017.