Two rescue team members stand inside the Gotthard Tunnel on Oct. 26, 2001. Parts of the tunnel ceiling had to be stabilized after a head-on truck collision caused a fire in which 11 people died. *
Photo: Associated Press / Michele Limina * 1980: The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens to traffic as the longest highway tunnel ever built.
The Alps have always formed a formidable and often impenetrable barrier between northern and southern Europe. But since the 19th century, the Swiss, French and Italians have been boring tunnels through the mountains, first to accommodate trains and later the automobile.
The 10.5-mile-long St. Gotthard Tunnel links the Swiss towns of Goschenen and Airolo, a ski resort near the Italian frontier. Since its opening two newer tunnels -- one in Norway, the other in China -- have surpassed St. Gotthard in length. And the nearby St. Gotthard Railway Tunnel, which opened in 1882, has lost its distinction of being the longest railway tunnel, surpassed by Japan's Seikan tunnel (between Honshu and Hokkaido) and the cross-Channel tunnel (aka "Chunnel," between England and France).
St. Gotthard is single-bore tunnel, with one lane of traffic traveling each way. Although the speed limit is set at a reasonably safe 80 km/h (50 mph), the tunnel was the scene of a fiery collision between two trucks in October 2001. The accident killed 11 people and shut the tunnel down for two months.
Although the tunnel is famous for enormous traffic jams, voters defeated a referendum in 1994 that would have authorized construction of another automobile tunnel.
(Source: Wikipedia)
