Overview | |
---|---|
Route | Route nationale 159 (France) from 48°15′13″N 7°11′37″E / 48.25361°N 7.19361°E to 48°17′18″N 7°7′1″E / 48.28833°N 7.11694°E |
Crosses | Vosges Mountains |
Start | Vosges |
End | Haut-Rhin |
Operation | |
Opened | 8 August 1937 (rail) 7 February 1976 (road) |
Closed | 2 June 1973 (rail) |
Operator | Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône |
Traffic | Automotive |
Character | Railway tunnel (1937-1976) Single carriageway road tunnel with service tunnel (since 1976) |
Toll | € 9.40 (2019) |
Technical | |
Length | 6,950 m |
No. of lanes | 2 |
The Tunnel Maurice-Lemaire, commonly known as the Tunnel de Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines is a former rail tunnel adapted to permit road traffic to drive between Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines (Haut-Rhin, Alsace) and Saint-Dié (Vosges, Lorraine), France, without needing to drive over the mountain pass. The tunnel is 6,950 m (7,600 yd) long, which till 2011 made it the longest road tunnel wholly within France. The tunnel owes its current name to Maurice Lemaire, a former Director General of the SNCF and a senior politician nationally and regionally during the third quarter of the twentieth century. Lemaire promoted the tunnel's modernisation.