Alpine crossings have been a continental obsession since Hannibal drove his elephants over the peaks into Italy 2,200 years ago. Charlemagne found a way through the snows to Rome in his campaign to unify Europe. Two centuries back, Napoleon led cavalry and artillery behind Mont Blanc, over the Great St. Bernard Pass through Switzerland to take Italy by surprise. Today the issue is 20-wheeled trucks, which haul as much as 45 tons of everything from tuna to tractors. When they grind up steep mountain slopes, they belch noxious smoke.
Motors overheat so much that some catch fire.
Its single two-lane gallery was designed for cars and trucks of its time, with a roadway six feet narrower than today's norm. By 1999, up to 5,000 heavy vehicles a day chugged up long inclines to crowd through the tunnel. The opposing poles are clear, and they are far apart. We're going ahead in the interest of the majority. Alain Durand, a spokesman for the Association for the Respect of the Mont Blanc Site, says that sort of reasoning will poison Europe.