TUNNELS IN TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE OF SLOVAKIA AND POSSIBILITIES FOR THEIR FUNDING.

An important factor influencing the level of economic development of countries and regions is the transport infrastructure. The transport infrastructure in the Slovak Republic lags behind the needs. The motorway network as an important element in transport infrastructure is significantly undersized and unevenly distributed. The paper is focused on the tunnels, which are an important part of the mountainous country highways. Their construction is economically, technically challenging and time consuming and the aim of this paper is to highlight the economic aspects of the construction and operation of tunnels and possibilities of financing. Contribution is dealing with research of present possibilities of tunnels financing in conditions of Slovak republic with showing possible positive and negative elements of individual way of financing. Each method of financing of highways construction has its pros as well as the risks and there is necessary to decide sensibly, when to use which type of funding. Despite the costs of tunnels construction, it should be said that the comparison is often not justified. The volume of costs depends on a number of uncontrollable factors, such as geological conditions, geographical location, technical level of tunnel, technology of excavation, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]