Tende tunnel reopens after twelve years

The Roya valley once again has a direct road link to Italy with the inauguration of the new cross-border ‘tube’.

After more than a decade of incident-laden roadworks, the Tende tunnel finally reopened to traffic at the weekend. The 3.2-kilometre stretch of road, a lifeline for the 8,000 inhabitants of the Roya Valley, is now in operation, albeit on a part-time basis. Motorists can use the tunnel from 6 am to 9 am, from 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm and from 6 pm to 10 pm on weekdays, and at all times at weekends.

The partial reopening is the culmination of a titanic project that began in 2014 under Italian management. Initially scheduled for 2017, the project was plagued by setbacks: the theft of 200 tonnes of materials in 2017, the destruction of the access viaducts by storm Alex in October 2020, and a series of delays that have pushed the cost up to €255 million.

The valley has been cut off for eleven years. Deprived of their natural link to Italy’s Piedmont region since 2013, local residents have had to contend with huge detours via Nice or Savona, turning a ten-minute trip into an expedition lasting several hours. The situation was particularly detrimental since, prior to its closure, 1.2 million vehicles used the tunnel every year, a mixture of cross-border workers and tourists.

Historic trains to kick-start the summer

In parallel to the reopening, the valley is banking on the appeal of its railway heritage. Eight historic trains will be running on the Ventimiglia-Tende line throughout the summer, starting from 9.15 am on Sunday 6 July. This initiative by the French Riviera Community, funded by the European Vermenagna-Roya III project (€2.9 million), is designed to compensate for the stoppage of the famous Train des Merveilles between Nice and Breil-sur-Roya.

While the tunnel reopening is a breath of fresh air for the region, it is not the end of the story. The current opening hours allow the remaining work to continue overnight. An intergovernmental meeting scheduled for 18 July is expected to rule on extending opening times for traffic. As for the historic old tunnel, it will not be completely renovated until 2027, at which point simultaneous two-way traffic will finally be restored.