The idea of connecting Britain and France under the English Channel (“La Manche” in French) is often attributed to ꦐFrench mining engineer Jacques-Joseph (“Albert”) Mathieu-Favier who proposed an underwater tunnel between the two then-warring countries, with service provided by horse-drawn carriage. During the Peace of Amiens between March 1802 and May 1803, Napoleon expresജsed interest in the proposal, but Britain’s re-declaration of war on France in May 1803 put an end to any serious negotiations regarding the tunnel.

Proposals to connect Britain and France proceeded in fits and starts throughout the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, ever-present but often thwarted by military concerns, first with France itself but later with the rise of a unified Germany. By the early 1950s, however, politicians and business leaders began downplaying any military concerns and were increasingly in support of a link between the two countries for increased travel and trade, notwithstanding the engine💖ering chal😼lenges. As a result, the Channel Tunnel Study Group was formed in 1957 with an initial sum of £255,000 going toward necessary studies and reports, with hopes that the project would get underway soon thereafter.

Seen here is Fred Freeman’s depiction of the British portal of the Ch🐓annel Tunnel, presumably at Folkestone, completed ca. 1958. Freeman depicts both the rail station and the portal as fully integrated into the bucolic British landscape, a postwar vision of technology’s beneficence, in harmony with both nature and society. At the time, many in the public believed the project would soon begin after a century-and-a-half of false starts. After numerous geological and engineering surveys, the Channel Tunnel Study Group released its first report in March 1960, proposing a 32-mile long, dual-tunnel, rail-only project that would take 5 years to complete at a cost of between £129 and £132 million.

Despite significant momentum, political and economic concerns would again stall the project until 1988, at which point tun🌸nel boring began in earnest from both the British and French sides simultaneously. The two sides of the service tunnel were joined to great acclaim on December 1, 1990, followed months later by the two rail tunnels on May 22 and June 28, 1991. The Channel Tunnel was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and French president Francois Mitterrand in May 1994, realizing a dream nearly 200 years in the making. 

REFERENCES:

Gourvish, Terry. The Official History of Britain and the Channel Tunnel. New York, Routledge, 2006.