Williams Way, Gibraltar
Williams Way is a tunnel through the eastern part of the Rock of Gibraltar.
 Entrance to Williams Way | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | Gibraltar |
| Coordinates | 36.14333°N 5.34083°W |
| Status | Closed |
| Start | Catalan Bay Road |
| End | Sir Herbert Miles Road |
| Operation | |
| Work begun | 1942 |
| Constructed | limestone |
| Owner | Government 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]
References
- "ARO Williams OBE Obituary". J. Inst South African Mining and Metallurgy p.300. September 1989.
- Haycraft, Col. T. W. R. "THE GIBRALTAR TUNNELS p.5" (PDF). siegebattlefieldtours.com. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- Rosenbaum, MS and; Rose, EPF (1991). The Tunnels of Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Museum. pp. 29–30.
- Eyleen Sheil (3 October 2012). "Probe into William's Way tunnel fire". Gibraltar Chronicle. Retrieved 29 October 2012.