Transport in Aosta Valley - Mont Blanc Tunnel, Great St Bernard Tunnel, Aosta Airport, Autostrada A5 (Paperback)

Chapters: Mont Blanc Tunnel, Great St Bernard Tunnel, Aosta Airport, Autostrada A5. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 20. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Mont Blanc Tunnel is a road tunnel in the Alps under the Mont Blanc mountain, linking Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France ( ), and Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy ( ). It is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes, particularly for Italy, which relies on the tunnel for transporting as much as one-third of its freight to northern Europe. It reduces the route from France to Turin by 50 km and to Milan by 100 km. Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the Mont Blanc Tunnel is 11611 metres (7.25 miles) long, 8.6 metres (28.2 ft) wide, and 4.35 metres (14.3 ft) high. The tunnel is not horizontal, but in a slightly inverted "V." Altitude on the French side: 1274 m (4091 ft); Italian side: 1381 m (4530 ft). The tunnel consists of a single gallery with a two-lane dual direction road. Plans to widen the tunnel were never implemented because of lack of financing and fierce opposition of local residents who objected to the harmful effects of increased heavy traffic. The Mont Blanc Tunnel was originally managed by two public companies, each managing half of the tunnel: After the 1999 fire, which showed how lack of coordination could hamper the safety of the tunnel, all the operations are managed by a single entity: MBT-EEIG, controlled by both ATMB and SITMB together, through a 50-50 shares distribution. On 24 March 1999, 39 people died when a Belgian transport truck carrying flour and margarine caught fire in the tunnel. After several km, the driver realized something was wrong as cars coming in the opposite direction flashed their headlights at him; a glance in his mirrors showed white smoke coming out from under his cab. This was not y...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=16719