Fire Closes France-Italy Car Tunnel Indefinitely
20 June 2005 6:00am
Authorities announced earlier this week that the Frejus Tunnel between France and Italy will remain closed indefinitely pending repairs after a large truck fire on June 4.
A tractor-trailer carrying tires burned in the tunnel for nearly seven hours, destroying several other vehicles and killing two people.
The closure of the Frejus Tunnel will cause significant traffic delays throughout the region. Around 3,800 trucks (and many thousands more autos) each day will now be forced to resort to the 125-mile-long detour through the already-busy Mont Blanc Tunnel.
A 1999 truck fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel closed that tunnel for nearly three years.
