The Hautes-Pyrénées Department and its Aragonese partners are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Aragnouet-Bielsa Tunnel, a vital structure connecting the Aure Valley to High Aragon. The event will take place on Saturday, November 7th, at the tunnel's control post on the Spanish side.
This anniversary will be attended by political figures including Michel Pélieu, President of the Hautes-Pyrénées Department, Sybille Samoyault, Prefect of the Hautes-Pyrénées, Jorge Azcón, President of the Government of Aragon, Miguel Ángel Noguero, Mayor of Bielsa, and Jérôme Valencian, Mayor of Aragnouet.
The tunnel's construction, which began after a convention was signed on March 30, 1962, required fourteen years of effort. The breakthrough occurred in 1967, with the gallery opened on October 19, 1968. After an additional eight years for widening, consolidation, and lining, the tunnel was officially inaugurated on November 5, 1976.
A true link, the Aragnouet-Bielsa Tunnel is the sole road connection between the Hautes-Pyrénées and Aragon. It handles an average of 1,070 vehicles per day, a figure that increases in summer, thus contributing to the economy and tourism on both sides. It has been jointly managed since 2008 by the GECT Pirineos Pyrénées.
The ceremony on November 7th will also include Clément Servat, President of GECT Pirineos-Pyrénées, and Carlos Campo, Deputy Government Delegate for Huesca.
“"Connecting the two countries was a necessity. The Pyrenees need to be able to exchange and communicate from one side to the other."
The tunnel, measuring 3,070 meters in length, required 14 years of work from the 1962 convention to its inauguration in 1976. It is open 365 days a year, an objective achieved after its modernization in 2010 with the support of the European Union.
