The Homer Tunnel opens the road to Milford Sound
- When
- 1953
- Where
- Homer Saddle · Te Whakatipu-Waitai
- Reach
- Several regions
After eighteen years of intermittent work, a rough 1.2 km bore under the Homer Saddle gave Milford Sound its first road connection.
Work started in 1935 as a relief scheme during the Depression, with men driving the tunnel largely by hand in a valley subject to avalanches that killed several of them. The Second World War suspended the project, and it was not open to traffic until 1953. The tunnel turned Milford Sound from a place reached by boat or a four-day walk into a destination that could be driven to in a morning, and set the pattern for Fiordland tourism.
Regions affected
Sources
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