The Mont-Blanc tunnel is celebrating its 60th anniversary this Wednesday, July 16. The book made it possible to reduce time to connect Haute-Savoie (f) to the Val d’Aosta (i) from three hours to twelve minutes-provided that there is no expectation at the entrance.
On July 16, 1965, General de Gaulle and the Italian president Giuseppe Saragat inaugurated the tunnel, which passed 2500 meters below the top of the Aiguille du Midi, in the Mont-Blanc massif.
Up to the end of the site was a feat. It took six years of work to complete the tunnel. The workers dug La Roche at the rate of 7 to 8 meters per day over 11.6 km, from the two ends.
Since then, the Mont-Blanc tunnel has become a major road axis in Europe. In 1966, its first full year of operation, 600,000 vehicles all categories borrowed this Alpine crossing. Last year, attendance rose to 1.4 million passages, despite a closure all fall due to renovation.
Crossing the tube, in public hands, is not free. The motorist must currently pay 54.80 euros for a single one and 68.40 euros for the round trip.
The 1999 disaster
The reputation of the tunnel was seriously tarnished in 1999. On March 24, a truck caught fire in the tunnel. The fire causes the death of 39 people. The survey is overwhelming and points to an insufficient ventilation system, the lack of secure access and few and poorly trained teams.
But there is a “before” and a “after”. Closed for three years, the tunnel has been the subject of security work for 400 million euros. It is now considered a reference in the field. He will be closed again at traffic this fall for major renovation and maintenance work.
>> Review the subject of 19:30 of March 9, 2002, during the reopening of the tunnel:
Radio subject: Virginie Langerock
Adaptation web: Antoine Michel