The Federal Roads Office has initiated immediate measures to secure the tunnel and repair the damage, but the pass will remain closed for several days.
Keystone-SDA
It was an avalanche that caused the closure of the Great St. Bernard pass between Switzerland and Italy on Thursday. The avalanche damaged the Toules tunnel. However, the Simplon pass has reopened.
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During the heavy snowfall that affected the entire southern canton of Valais, an avalanche was triggered in the Toules gallery on the A21 Grand-St-Bernard motorway, which is located in front of the entrance to the Grand-St-Bernard tunnel. Boulders and trees swept down by the avalanche damaged the gallery over a length of around 300 metres.
+ Major road disruptions continue after heavy snowfall in parts of Switzerland
Investigations carried out on Friday show that road safety cannot be guaranteed. The Federal Roads Office has initiated immediate measures to secure the tunnel and repair the damage. Repair work will begin as soon as possible.
At present, the avalanche danger remains high and is delaying the start of the work. The A21 will therefore remain closed to transit traffic to Italy for several days until further notice, and will not be available for Easter traffic.
+ What’s triggering avalanches?
On the Swiss side, the A21 is open to local traffic between Martigny and Bourg-St-Pierre, said the roads office.
Translated from French with DeepL/gw
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