Diversion of the Tunnel du Chambon Announced
Partial diversion of the Chambon tunnel will be built
The ongoing landslides and collapse of the tunnel du Chambon, connecting 2 Alpes to La Grave by road, has been a subject of much debate and planning in recent months.
The tunnel started collapsing back in April this year, and the mountainside has since been slowly slipping into the lake, even causing a re-routing of this years Tour de France as a result. Local residents have had to resort to getting a boat across the lake to get to work or for their children to get to school.
Yesterday the president of Isere's departmental council announced that trying to repair the tunnel as it is at the moment is a fruitless exercise, and that an extension should be built, diverting past the worst of the collapse, and re-joining the part of the tunnel that is still intact.
The new tunnel section will be 300 metres long bringing the total length of the tunnel to 980 metres and will cost in the region of 20-25 million euros. 30% of the cost will be provided by the state, with the remainder split between the Rhone-Alpes and Provence Cote d'Azur regions.
The new tunnel should be in operation in time for winter 2016-17 and in the meantime a road on the opposite bank of the lake is being built, which is expected to be finished in late October this year.
