So funding WASN'T an issue - to quote your '09 research (as I've said before, this is such an educational forum !) -
The story behind it?
Back to WW1 and the need for strategically important supply routes. The Austro-Hungarian Army built this marvel in only 3 months to supply the Piave-Front in 1918. Up to 1400 workers (incl. the local old, lame and kids) bust their guts in 3 shifts a day to cut this thing out of the rock. It’s still an engineering marvel by today’s standards.
Somehow, funding never seems to be a problem when it's about war.:bang:
This one was built on the bodies of the local communities under the stick of the occupying military.
No funding, just a big stick.
That aside...the San Boldo isn't really much as a bike-road, especially with the maze of Dolomite-passes just to the north... but it beats all of them on the curiousity and engineering angles.