Mont Blanc Tunnel

The Mont Blanc Tunnel is a highway tunnel in Europe, under the Mont Blanc mountain in the Alps. It links Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France with Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy, via European route E25. The passageway 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 kilometres (30 miles) and to Milan by 100 km (60 mi). Northeast of Mont Blanc's summit, the tunnel is about 15 km (10 mi) southwest of the tripoint with Switzerland, near Mont Dolent.

Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the tunnel is 11.611 km (7.215 mi) in length, 8.6 m (28 ft) in width, and 4.35 m (14.3 ft) in height. The passageway is not horizontal, but in a slightly inverted "V", which assists ventilation. The entrance elevation on the French side (45°54′05″N 006°51′39″E) is 1,274 m (4,180 ft) and 1,381 m (4,531 ft) in Italy (45°49′04″N 006°57′07″E), with a maximum of 1,395 m (4,577 ft) near the center, a maximum difference of 121 m (397 ft). The tunnel consists of a single gallery with a two-lane dual direction road. At the time of its construction, it was more than triple the length of any existing highway tunnel.

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:

French side: ATMB (Autoroutes et tunnels du Mont-Blanc), founded 30 April 1958

Italian side: SITMB (Società italiana per azioni per il Traforo del Monte Bianco), founded 1 September 1957

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.

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