Europe’s ‘most expensive’ tunnel travels 7 miles through a mountain

Connecting France and Italy is a more than seven-mile-long tunnel which has been dubbed “the most expensive” toll tunnel in Europe. With summer upon us, road trips are a great way to explore more than one European country while on a holiday.

But before packing up the car it’s worth considering the cost of driving, not only petrol but also the cost of certain roads, bridges and crossings that you may encounter along the way.

As part of a new study, experts from Northgate Vehicle Hire revealed an impressive tunnel which will cost drivers close to £50 to drive through. However, the journey may well be worth the price as not only is it a speedy connection between two nations, but it’s also a unique driving experience.

The Mont Blanc Tunnel is 11.611 km, equating to 7.215 miles, and according to the study will cost an average family car roughly £46.85 to drive through it.

However, the tunnel crossing is subject to differing tolls depending on what side you are entering from due to Italy and France’s different VAT rates.

The highway tunnel was first opened in 1965 and travels between France and Italy, under Mont Blanc in the Alps.

The unique driving experience links Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France with Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy, via the French Route Nationale 205 and the Italian Traforo T1 which serves Geneva and Turin.

The road is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes, transporting as much as one-third of Italy’s freight to Northern Europe.

The tunnel also slashes journey times by 30 miles between France and Turin and to Milan by 60 miles.

Rather than travelling horizontally through the tunnel, the road takes the shape of a “V” to assist ventilation. It was a major design feat when it was first built, originally twice as long as any other highway tunnel which existed at that time.

It is estimated that it took a grand total of 4.6 million man-hours to complete the project by 350 workmen and five engineers. Since it was first opened, the tunnel has undergone a series of important modernisation and safety improvements.

As well as drivers, pedestrians are able to cross through the tunnel by bus.