Williams Way | |
Location: | Gibraltar |
Coordinates: | 36.1433°N -5.3408°W |
Status: | Closed |
Start: | Catalan Bay Road |
End: | Sir Herbert Miles Road |
Startwork: | 1942 |
Owner: | Government of Gibraltar |
Construction: | limestone |
Williams Way is a tunnel through the eastern part of the Rock of Gibraltar.
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 tunnelling 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 had been 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]