Chalus Road road and Kandovan tunnel - Beautiful Iran
The Karaj – Chalous road starts in the middle of Karaj and after crossing the Alborz mountain chain, it reaches Chalous city and the Caspian sea side. At the time of constructing the Chalous road there was no other solution but to excavate a tunnel through the mountain otherwise one had to go round it. On 11th of May 1935 the first dynamite was used to create an opening from where workers continued digging with pick and chip-axes. The construction of this 1884 m long, 5.5 m wide, and 6 m high tunnel took three years and was inaugurated on 17th of May 1938.
In 1995 it was suggested to widen the road for bi-directional traffic. However due to the presence of ground water, and weakening of the rock and soil mass over the years, works progressed slowly when the old rock cover of the tunnel was removed and several collapses occurred. This project was completed after seven years in 2002.
