Las Raíces Tunnel is the longest of the very few tunnels in the southern Andes and is the second longest of South America (after the 2006 inauguration of the long tunnel Fernando Gómez Martínez in Colombia). It is located about 700 km south of Santiago de Chile on the paved Route 181-CH connecting the city of Temuco with the passPino Hachado towards Argentina. As such, the tunnel serves as a link between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, from Lebu in Chile to Bahía Blanca in Argentina. It is long, located above sea level and was inaugurated in 1939.