June 23, 2007
A dedication ceremony was held for the Sitina Tunnel in Bratislava, the capital and largest city of the country of Slovakia in central Europe. This tunnel carries the D2 motorway underneath a section of the mountain range known as the Little Carpathians (a part of the Carpathian Mountains). The Sitina Tunnel was the first two-tube tunnel to be built in Slovakia. The inauguration of this tunnel also marked the completion of the 50-mile (80-kilometer) D2 motorway nearly a half-century after work on that route had begun.
The plans for the development of the Sitina Tunnel first took shape during the 1990s, with the actual construction initiated during the fall of 2003. The breakthrough for the tunnel’s western tube was made in February 2005, and was followed by the breakthrough for the eastern tube in May of that year.
A large number of people turned out for the dedication of the Sitina Tunnel on June 23, 2007. (The above photo taken on that day shows people gathering at the tunnel for the festivities.) One of the highlights of the Saturday ceremony involved British racecar champion David Coulthard driving through the tunnel in an open-wheel, single-seater Formula One vehicle.
In addition, those attending the ceremony had the opportunity to walk through the new tunnel. The following day, the Sitina Tunnel was officially opened to vehicular traffic.
Photo Credit: Roman Paholík (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0)
For more information on the Sitina Tunnel, please check out Sitina Tunnel (Bratislava, 2007) | Structurae
Additional information on the D2 motorway is available at D2 motorway (Slovakia) – Wikipedia
A video of David Coulthard driving through the Sitina Tunnel as part of that structure’s dedication ceremony can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7OY5eRyVL8
Transportation History 
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