Compiled by Outside Online

March 11, 2002 The Mont Blanc Tunnel, the eight-mile, 15,000-foot-plus-high passage linking France and Italy, reopened to cars Saturday, three years after a fire in the tunnel killed 39 people.

The reopening was preceded by a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the victims of the 1999 fire and was marked by demonstrations. Locals and environmentalists have battled to keep the tunnel, which provides access to the extreme skiing mecca of Chamonix, closed to commercial shipping since the French government announced plans to reopen the tunnel in the summer of 2000. They argue that officials have done little to stymie increasing carbon dioxide emissions in the region and have filed lawsuits in hopes of redirecting the flow of commercial traffic, receiving financial support from U.S. companies like Patagonia (see, "Hazy Shade of Winter" Outside magazine, January 2001).

According to news reports, some 1500 protestors ringing cowbells and waving signs lined the side of the road. And an early morning explosion—attributed to fundamentalist groups—destroyed a maintenance truck near the French entrance of the tunnel. No one was hurt and the reopening was delayed one hour. More than 200 police were at the ceremony.

The tunnel, formerly a major commercial trade route used by up to 5,000 heavy trucks a day, will initially only be open to cars. Truck traffic is expected to resume later this week, though trucks carrying heavy goods will only be allowed to travel one direction at a time, according to the BBC.

"When trucks start to come back, we won't be on the side of the road anymore—we'll be in it," Jean-Paul Trichet of the Association pour le Respect du Site du Mont Blanc told the LA Times.