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The Great Tunnel In Catalan Bay
The eastern corner of the British territory of Gibraltar is not known to
be a very heavily populated area. Approximately, there may be less than
500 inhabitants that can be found here, or only about 1.5 percent of the
total population of Gibraltar. Yet, in this part of Gibraltar lies two
beautiful spots, Catalan Bay and Sandy Bay. Linking these two spots to
Europa Point, another great tourist attraction, is the Dudley Ward Tunnel.
A long stretch of road tunnel that connects eastern Gibraltar to its
southernmost tip, the Dudley Ward tunnel was named after Gibraltar
Governor Sir Alfred Dudley Ward who served as the administrator of the
British territory from 1962-1965. It was during his term as governor that
Gibraltar saw the drafting of its constitution in 1964.
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Beyond the Tunnel
Though presently unused by local and foreign tourists, the tunnel does
provide visitors the opportunity to get a full view of breath-taking
Catalan Bay, which, aside from hosting a hotel, a church, and several
restaurants, is also home to a small fishing village, most of them
descending from an original group of fishermen hailing from Genoa.
The tunnel extends over to the southernmost corner of Gibraltar known
as Europa Point, where several signs of modernity can readily be
found, as evidenced by several prominent structures and playing
fields, although three particular buildings readily stand out. These
are the Muslim mosque, ibrahim-al-ibrahim Mosque, the Catholic church
honoring the Our Lady of Europe, and one lighthouse, which happens to
be the only lighthouse existing outside of the United Kingdom. It was
built between the years 1838-1841 under the stewardship of Gibraltar
Governor Sir Alexander Woodford. Many people have come to witness that
on very dark nights, one can see the lighthouse image even from as far
as 27 kilometers away.
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Aside from the concrete structures, another advantage of taking the tunnel
route when seeking to visit Europa Point is that it will give the average
Gibraltarian visitor the chance to have an excellent view of several
natural attractions of the area like the Gibraltar Strait, the African
continent, which will also include the Morocco Rif Mountains, and several
Spanish towns that are situated near the border of Spain and Gibraltar.
End of the Road
Prior to entering the tunnel, having a peek of the historic water
catchments of Gibraltar was possible about five years ago. These large
containers were mostly made of corrugated steel and used to function as
catch basins for rainwater falling from the rock sides of Gibraltar.
However, sometime in 2001, efforts were made to start dismantling the
basins in order to allow the sand dunes, upon which the catchments were
built, to develop naturally. By the year 2004, the area has totally
stopped serving its primary function. Nevertheless, one can still get to
appreciate a quick glance of the area, especially since it is now a
beautiful stretch of green grass and vegetation. Apart from this, there is
also the spectacular view that Sandy Bay offers, being located directly
below the erstwhile catchment areas.
Enclosing the Danger
Before the year 2000, traveling through the tunnel was permitted almost
uninhibitedly. One can even opt to undertake a trip either on foot or
while riding in motor vehicles. However, since the tunnel location is
directly beneath the massive Gibraltar rocks, the danger of rockfalls,
especially during times of extremely bad weather, is always a recurring
danger.
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Sometime in the afternoon of February of 2002, a landslide occurred just
before the entrance to the tunnel, instantly killing an unidentified man
who was then traveling inside his car and driving through the tunnel.
Another person was also reported to have received treatment at a nearby
hospital for shock.
Investigations showed that the landslide was most probably caused by heavy
rains during the weekend, causing sand to slip away, and eventually
dislodging large boulders from their places. In any case, the incident has
led the government of Gibraltar to order the immediate closure of the said
tunnel, saying similar future accidents are likely to happen.
It said that the closure decision was clearly the next best option.
Initially, the closure was made to last for only 48 hours, but since the
tunnel is known to experience regular instances of landslides, a decision
was made to have it closed for an indefinite period of time. |
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Winds of Change
In recent years, the government of Gibraltar has made several
pronouncements that appear to indicate a gradual though cautious change in
its original position of keeping the tunnel closed indefinitely. Reports
said that there are current plans to embark on a wide-scale engineering
plan that will ultimately lead to a tunnel re-opening very soon.
Preparatory to the rumored massive re-opening scheme, the Gibraltar
Environment Ministry has adopted three years ago the “Clean up the World”
promotion of the Environmental and Security Group to target areas in and
around Gibraltar that need cleaning up programs. This included the tunnel,
starting from its entrance side up to the lighthouse located at Europa
Point south of Gibraltar.
The place is said to experience flooding during certain times of the year
and the cleaning up operations, apart from the engineering works that will
be undertaken, are meant to address this particular problem and put an end
to some engineering issues that hover around the tunnel.
The estimated cost that the tunnel re-opening will entail is said to
be around the vicinity of 4.6 billion pounds, and this has initially
appeared to have daunted the spirits of many government officials of
Gibraltar, leading Shadow Minister Lucio Randall of the Ministry of
Government Services to officially declare during a meeting with
leaders of the Assembly House in October that no final decision has
yet been reached on whether to start a tunnel re-opening or not,
including an actual date of its opening if ever it will be re-opened
at all.
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