25th February 1970
The tunnel is opened beneath Fort Regent
The tunnel running beneath Fort Regent finally opened seven years (less six days) after it was approved, finally providing a desperately needed short cut for traffic travelling through St Helier. Unfortunately, it was built very much to cater for the level of traffic that was prevalent at the time of its design, providing capacity for just one lane of traffic in either direction. It links the Route de la Liberation and Route du Fort.
Its construction involved the compulsory purchase of several private buildings and relocating a statue of Queen Victoria, initially to what is now Liberation Square and latterly to what’s now Victoria Park. The project cost £450,000 to complete (around £7m in 2019) which, at an overall length of 253m (830ft), averages out at £1,778 (£60,000 in 2019) per metre. Almost 9m wide and 7m tall, boring it required the removal of more than 50,000 tons of rock, with the walls, floor and ceiling reinforced by concrete.
It took just eight months for workers to break through from one side of the hill to the other, completing the task shortly before 6pm on 27 August 1969. Less than six months later, Sir Robert Le Masurier, then bailiff, officially became the first person to use it. Initially, it was designed solely for cars to use, but public pressure eventually saw the addition of narrow, fenced pathways running along either wall.
The tunnel has been upgraded several times over the years as components, like the cladding, with its 25-year maximum lifespan, needed replacing.
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Other events that occured in February
A sailing boats sinks on its way to Jersey
- The Dewdrop, a brig with two large, square-rigged masts, was badly damaged while sailing from Turk’s Island to Jersey on 3 February 1884.
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Coal-filled steamer strikes the rocks
- A steamer loaded with coal was holed below the waterline when it struck rocks off Jersey's Noirmont Point in 1952.
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Gerald Durrell marries the woman who will help him found his zoo
- Gerald Durrell married opera singer Jacquie Wolfenden in 1951 and the two went on to found the zoo in Jersey.
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Courts decide who owns St Aubin’s railway
- A dispute over who owned a railway line resulted in a Clameur de Haro and the risk that the States would claim ownership itself.
- Read more…