The Great Saint Bernard tunnel will be closed to traffic from midnight to 4:00 a.m. on the night of October 11 to 12 in order to test the ventilation system. Currently, major repair work on the ventilation slab is being carried out in the tunnel. They follow the collapse of a beam which occurred in 2017.
KEYSTONE
“Light vehicles and coaches may eventually pass through the Great Saint Bernard Pass,” Sisex SA, the Italian-Swiss company operating the tunnel, said in a press release on Thursday.
The ventilation slab repair project began in 2023 and is taking place at night. Traffic is maintained at all times, with some exceptions, Sisex SA told Keystone-ATS.
A quarter of the work has been completed so far. In accordance with the planned schedule, the project should be completed in 2027.
Emergency works
In September 2017, a ventilation slab beam weighing around 300 kilos collapsed on the Italian side of the tunnel, just before a car passed through. A video, which the press was able to view at the time, showed the extent of the incident.
Emergency work was then carried out at the end of 2017 to rebuild the ventilation slab over 127 meters, temporarily reinforce the beams over 1,500 meters, and restore the functionality of the tunnel.
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