The Mont-Blanc tunnel, a major road link between France and Italy, is due to reopen on Friday after nine weeks of maintenance work, its manager announced on Tuesday. “The reopening of the Mont Blanc tunnel initially scheduled for December 18 has been brought forward by three days,” TMB-GEIE said in a press release, announcing the end of maintenance work on the building, built sixty years ago and borrowed every day by thousands of vehicles.
“The circulation of all vehicles in the Mont-Blanc tunnel will thus be restored” on the 11.6 km of the bidirectional structure, after the last verification tests, specified the manager. The maintenance work started on October 16 mobilized more than 200 people with the intervention of 50 companies, for a total of 20 million euros invested. They focused on the replacement of slab elements in the central portion of the tunnel and the replacement of fan accelerators on the vault.
Work reviewed after the rockslide in Maurienne
The work was initially scheduled to begin in September and last fifteen weeks. They were seen again after a spectacular landslide of 15,000 m3 of rocks in the Maurienne valley on August 27, which complicated transport between France and Italy. The most used railway line between the two countries remains cut, even if the SNCF plans to set up a replacement service from January 10. This long closure is a first for the Mont-Blanc tunnel since its reopening in 2002, after the fire which ravaged it on March 24, 1999 and which cost the lives of 39 people.
An annual safety exercise is due to take place next Monday, stopping traffic for five hours.