In England, a planned motorway tunnel at Stonehenge sparks controversy

A decision by the British High Court is due in the coming days to authorize or reject the construction of a motorway tunnel next to a world-famous Neolithic site.

With her parents, Lola returns to the shelter towards the reception. In the cold wind, these travelers spent long minutes around the stone circle of Stonehenge, in the south of England. They appreciate being a little warm and finding some peace and quiet, not only at the archaeological site, but also near the ticket office. “There’s a loud part and a quiet partLola says. We wonder because there are so many cars nearby. It creates a strange atmosphere, we didn’t think there were so many.”

Actually, from 1.6 A million visitors a year, not all of them get to see the solstice, when the sun rises or sets in the alignment of the stones, but they all note the proximity to the A303. The road passes right next to the megaliths: trucks and cars are almost always in the field of vision and make constant noise.

During peak hours, motorists can spend an hour on this stretch of 13 kilometers Hence the idea of ​​this tunnel was mooted by David Bullock, Project Director of National Highways : “We are facing huge traffic jams here, which is slowing down the economy of the Southwest. It is a disaster for the area where the stones are located and it spreads to the surrounding communities. People want to avoid the traffic passing through the local villages. We North , looking for roads to the south… from 50 to 60 Various options, we came back to what is the best solution: a three kilometer tunnel.”

“It puts the road out of sight of the Stonehenge site and at the same time we’ll have this fast and reliable route.”

David Bullock, National Highways Project Director

at franceinfo

“This land is of extraordinary value to humanity”

The tunnel will be 200 meters long and 40 meters deep through the rocks. The road will be widened. John Adams is completely in favor of burying this road which disturbs the peace of the place. But not with the current project. “All these lands are of extraordinary value to humanity and global importance, like the Pyramids of Egypt or the Taj Mahal, Explains the president of the Stonehenge Alliance who took legal action. Each end of the tunnel will have a long, deep trench. On the west side, it will be as wide as a football field and as deep as a two-story building. It will cut off the archaeological remains and we are totally opposed to that. There will be an overpass at the eastern end. It seems that the Chinese have decided to put a viaduct across the Great Wall. This is crazy!”

“Our job should be to preserve this site for future generations, not just try to solve the problem of traffic jams.”

John Adams, Chairman of the Stonehenge Alliance

at franceinfo

So the opponents of the Stonehenge tunnel are back in court. In 2021, a British judge ruled illegal the construction of a road tunnel near an archaeological site that at the time was at risk of losing its UNESCO World Heritage listing. The legislative marathon will continue after the High Court’s decision, both camps promise.