OREANDA-NEWS. The builders conduct preparations for opening the routine traffic in the Roki tunnel at the 93rd kilometer of the Transcaucasus Railway. All major work within the tunnel has been completed, and preparations are underway for gallery reconstruction.

The Roki tunnel length is 3,730 meters. It used to be the longest highway tunnel in the Soviet Union. Commissioned in the late 1980s, it is considered unique in its own right because, apart from being long, it was at the highest altitude as well - 2,500 meters above sea level.

The second phase included the work on enlarging the tunnel cross-sectional area from 65 to 75 square meters, high quality waterproofing, and lining. The tunnel features the state-of-the-art life-support and monitoring systems now as well as an original architectural design of the tunnel entries. A few new buildings and facilities necessary for tunnel operation have been built on the tunnel entry sites.

After the traffic has been switched to the main tunnel, the third reconstruction phase of gallery lining will be started. The final commissioning of the installation is to be held in a year, in October 2015.