Williams Way, Gibraltar

Williams Way

Entrance to Williams Way
Overview
Location Gibraltar
Coordinates 36°08′36″N 5°20′27″W / 36.14333°N 5.34083°W / 36.14333; -5.34083
Status Closed
Start Catalan Bay Road
End Sir Herbert Miles Road
Operation
Work begun 1942
Owner Government of Gibraltar
Technical
Construction limestone

Williams Way is a tunnel through the eastern part of the Rock of Gibraltar.

Description

It is one of two tunnels in Gibraltar named after Lt Col A R O Williams, of 178 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers. Arthur Robert Owen Williams (1905-1989) was known as "ARO". He had trained as a miner in South Africa and was in charge of tunneling operation in Gibraltar during World War II. When he left the army he was also given an OBE.[1] Williams also gave his name to Arow Street which is a tunnel entirely inside the rock.[2]

The tunnel's entrance starts at Catalan Bay Road and exits at Sir Herbert Miles Road. It was built in 1942 to bypass a landslide which was triggered by a large detonation of explosives during quarrying operations. The landslide completely blocked off the road to Catalan Bay Village. This tunnel also provides access to MacFarlane's Gallery and during 1944/1945 was used to provide an entrance to a fuel storage area known as Project 'C'. [3]

On 1 October 2012 a fire occurred inside the tunnel in a disused control room which took two hours to extinguish. [4]

Tunnel Exit at Catalan Bay

References

  1. "ARO Williams OBE Obituary". J. Inst South African Mining and Metallurgy p.300. September 1989.
  2. Haycraft, Col. T. W. R. "THE GIBRALTAR TUNNELS p.5" (PDF). siegebattlefieldtours.com. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  3. Rosenbaum, MS and; Rose, EPF (1991). The Tunnels of Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Museum. pp. 29–30.
  4. Eyleen Sheil (3 October 2012). "Probe into William’s Way tunnel fire". Gibraltar Chronicle. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
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