After years of work in rarefied air and frigid temperatures at more than 4.000m above the sea level, the tunnels on this list are engineering marvels sure to impress anyone. Sadly, hundreds of websites misinform about the world’s highest tunnels, claiming wrong records.
Before the construction of these tunnels, drivers had to negotiate treacherous mountain routes prone to mudslides and avalanches. They were constructed in particularly challenging conditions, with difficult climatic and environmental conditions at the construction location, to provide travelers a quick and easy way to access hard-to-reach destinations.
Tunnel | Elevation | Country |
Mi La Mountain Tunnel | 4.752m (15,590ft) | China |
Tunel Punta Olimpica | 4.732m (15,525ft) | Peru |
Tunel de Kahuish | 4.516m (14,816ft) | Peru |
Cho La Mountain Tunnel | 4.378m (14,363ft) | China |
Pic: By Manuel Roca - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28417844