Map of the location of the Salang Tunnel from the BBC at bbc.co.uk.

When the Salang Tunnel, cutting through the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan opened in 1964, much like the Mont Blanc Tunnel cutting through the Alps, is was heralded as a major feat of engineering. Fast forward nearly 50 years, and lack of upkeep and overuse has led this modern marvel to a dangerous state of disrepair. The volume of cars and trucks has increased ten fold, the road at some points is a dirt path, and the tunnel itself is barely large enough to allow the passing of many shipping trucks. So why is this tunnel still used? Because Pakistan has closed its boarders to NATO and other travellers, leaving the Salang Tunnel as the only optionfor travel. For more information on the tunnel and its role in Afghanistan today, please visit: http://www.npr.org/2012/06/24/155302587/afghan-tunnel-decrepit-dangerous-yet-indispensible?sc=17&f=1001

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.