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With a length of 4,528 m, it was the longest tunnel in Latin America, until the opening in 2006 of the ´´Fernando Gómez Martínez´´ tunnel, of 4,600 m, in the Department of Antioquia, Colombia.



The feasibility studies began in 1911, but the final plans were completed in 1929. The construction of the tunnel lasted eight years, from 1930 to 1938, with an investment of more than 32 million pesos at the time. It has a width of 4.2 m and a height of 5.6 m. In principle, the work was intended for the train that linked Victoria and Sierra Nevada, but later it became an important step for the circulation of vehicles and, also, a tourist attraction.



The tunnel is part of Route 181 that connects the mountain city of Lonquimay with Victoria. This highway continues towards Argentina through the Paso de Pino Hachado in the Andes Mountains. In addition, the tunnel serves to form a bi-oceanic corridor between the Pacific and the Atlantic, from Lebu, in the Biobío Region in Chile to Bahía Blanca in Argentina.



The tunnel allows one-way traffic, so vehicles must wait for the direction of traffic to be indicated to advance. At present, this tunnel is paved and large trucks with fuel circulate through it daily from Argentina. It has an average daily traffic of about 450 vehicles.















The Las Raices Tunnel is a tunnel located in the Araucanía Region, Chile, connecting the communes of Curacautín and Lonquimay, in the upper sector of the Bío-Bío River and at 1,010 meters above sea level.



Access by land is through the Pan-American Route 5 South, and land transportation leaves from Santiago every hour from the main terminals. The journey time is approximately 10 hours.

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