The nighttime reopening of the Bielsa-Aragnouet tunnel, one of the three border crossings in the Aragonese Pyrenees with the neighboring country, will finally take place on December 2. Initially, it had been announced that this Saturday the 21st the crossing would return to normal after almost three years closed at dawn by French decision, but the installation of an automatic incident detection system necessary for its correct operation has forced it to be postponed.
The final decision was made this Wednesday at a meeting of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Pyrenees-Pyrénées. Before the nighttime reopening of the 3,070-meter-long tunnel, a renewed automatic incident detection system will be installed that will provide the infrastructure with a more effective warning device during nighttime hours.
The installation of this system is scheduled for December 2022 and involves a software change that improves the performance of the 65 cameras in the tunnel. Currently, the tunnel has equipment capable of detecting 70% of this type of incidents, such as an object on the road, smoke or the presence of a slow or stopped vehicle, but the new equipment will manage to increase this percentage significantly. .
“Right now we are in the middle of changing the air system for automatic incident detection in the tunnel, and without this system the tunnel cannot be reopened at night,” explained Andrés Olloqui, director of Cross-border Infrastructures at the EGTC. It is planned that the necessary tests will be carried out throughout the month of November so that the nighttime reopening can be carried out with all safety guarantees.
The facility has been closed at night since January 2021 (first from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., and currently from midnight) by decision of the French Government under the argument of controlling the “terrorist threat” and controlling illegal immigration. That decision, which emanated from Paris and was also temporarily applied at other border posts, has during this time generated inconveniences for transporters and residents of the affected areas.
Regional authorities have expressed satisfaction with the announcement of the reopening. Even so, the measure will not modify the restriction on the passage of trucks at night, a decision adopted by common agreement by the two countries involved with the aim of preserving the rest of the residents of the towns located at the foot of the road.
