Inefficient, Stupid and Safe

It took 4.6 million man hours to build the 11.6 meter Mont Blanc tunnel running under the Alp before it opened in 1965.

The mountain, itself is something we see almost every day, weather permitting, when we walk the dog or sit on a bench after checking the donkeys in a nearby field.

Its white peaks poke up over other mountains.

Thus when we decided to go to Aosta, Italy on the other side. We would go through the mountain.

The drive through the postcard beautiful scenery was a given. Only when we learned there was a 45 minute wait to enter the tunnel, did we question the wisdom.

However, there was still the scenery to look at. We played a word game taking the name from a truck next to us and seeing how many words we could make from the letters. Where I might find many three, four, five letter words, my husband found words like pattern and tennis.

Proceding at a pace where a caterpillar could outrun us, we reached the manned toll both, but the cars were halted for a time longer than believable to pay the 54.10 Euros even if it involved waiting for change.

Imagine the pollution from all those idling cars.

We were use to the super-efficient French autoroute with our Vinci allowing us to zip through toll booths. Even if we forgot to attach the Vinci to the windscreen, a credit card or change basket only takes a minute before we'd be on our way.

Only when writing this blog did I discover why.

In 1999, a truck caught fire in the tunnel killing  39 people. After two years, it was reopened, but with the goal of regulating how many people could go through the tunnel at the same time, making a similar tragedy impossible. That explained why the people in the toll booth were so slow.

It was mini-lesson in humbleness and not jumping to a conclusion without all the facts.