High in the Marão Mountain range, close to the clouds and the sky, is one of Portugal's most beautiful, most majestic, and most treacherous roads. The winding and difficult terrain, especially in the winter or harsh weather, impeded travel, causing longer drive times and avoidable accidents. This triggered a government-funded project which appointed construction specialist, Empresa Portuguesa de Obras Subterrâneas (EPOS) to solve this country's dilemma. Launched in 1986, EPOS was already behind some of the most important road and rail tunnels in Portugal, Spain and Algeria. But this time, the company, with the help of Atlas Copco, began working on twin, parallel tunnels that successfully cut straight through the mountain. EPOS was able to control its expenses in the drilling area with a special fixed rate per cubic meter system that Atlas Copco provided.