Tunnel Maurice-Lemaire
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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
 | |
| 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.
The tunnel was first mooted in 1866, but the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany put an end to the project until France recovered the 'lost provinces' in 1919. The tunnel was finally opened to rail traffic in August 1937. Although it was planned only to take a single rail track, the tunnel was wide enough to accommodate two lines: this was a common solution to ventilation issues that plagued French rail tunnels during the years when trains were steam powered. The extra width of the tunnel would prove particularly prescient in view of the tunnel's subsequent uses.
1940–1944
In March 1944, the tunnel was adapted to accommodate a factory for the manufacture of aircraft components. The factory was staffed by prisoners from the concentration camp of Struthof who were also forced to build, at the eastern end of the tunnel, a camp where they were accommodated. Like the main camp, this camp was evacuated and the detainees removed to Dachau in September 1944.
