Fréjus Road Tunnel
Overview | |
---|---|
Other name(s) | Traforo del Fréjus (Italian) Tunnel du Fréjus (French) |
Route | E70 RN543 E70 Traforo T4 E70 European route E70 |
Start | Bardonecchia |
End | Modane |
Operation | |
Opened | 1980 |
Technical | |
Length | 12.87 km (8.00 mi) |
Operating speed | 70 km/h (43 mph) |
The Fréjus Road Tunnel is a tunnel that connects France and Italy. It runs under Col du Fréjus in the Cottian Alps between Modane in France and Bardonecchia in Italy. It is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes between France and Italy being used for 80% of the commercial road traffic.
Construction of the 13 km (8.1 mi) long tunnel started in 1974, and it came into service on 12 July 1980, leading to the closure of the motorail shuttle service in the Fréjus rail tunnel. It cost 2 billion francs (equivalent to €700 million at 2005 prices). It is the thirteenth longest road tunnel in the world.
The French section is managed by the French company SFTRF, and the Italian section by the Italian company SITAF. (The French politician Pierre Dumas was chairman of SFTRF from 1962 to 1989). The tunnel can be reached from the Italian side by the
Safety
Following a
Despite these measures, on 4 June 2005, a fire caused the death of two
A second bore, parallel to the existing one at a distance of 50 m (55 yd), is under construction. Work began in 2009, following EU regulations put in place after the
The firefighting team consists of four intervention teams: positioned on the Italian and French sides, and two inside the tunnel, about 4 km (2.5 mi) from each end.
Fréjus Underground Laboratory
Near the midpoint is the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane
References
- ^ "Frejus Tunnel closed after truck fire". ANSA. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
- ^ La pause-café : coup de projecteur sur le tunnel du Fréjus (French)
- ^ "Au Sommet franco-italien, le Lyon-Turin est une "priorité absolue"". France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (in French). Retrieved 2022-06-25.
- ^ "Le percement de la seconde galerie du tunnel du Fréjus achevé en grande pompe" (in French). 2014-11-18.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ "Frejus, alla seconda galleria". La Stampa (in Italian). 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
- ^ "Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane". www-lsm.in2p3.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 2020-02-10. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
- ^ Some photographs in the L.S.M. Archived 2007-09-18 at the Wayback Machine refers to "the main hall of the Frejus Underground Laboratory" at the official web site.
- ^ Agreement between DSMICEA, 1N2P3/CNRS and INFN to propose a new Fréjus underground laboratory in view of a joint Fréjus-Gran Sasso European underground facility
- ^ Project of a Large International Underground Laboratory at Fréjus
External links
Media related to Fréjus road tunnel at Wikimedia Commons