The Great St. Bernard Tunnel is located in the southern Swiss canton of Valais and connects the Swiss town of Martigny (15,600 inhabitants as of 2008), accessible via main road 21, with the Italian city of Aosta (34,300 inhabitants as of 2017) via the Italian "Strada Statale 27" (SS27 or State Road 27). Construction of the St. Bernard Tunnel began in 1958 and was completed in 1964. It was officially opened to road traffic on March 19, 1964.
On the opening day, March 19, 1964, around 1,200 vehicles passed through the St. Bernard Tunnel. For comparison: in the entire year of 2013, a total of 620,000 vehicles used the tunnel — averaging 1,699 vehicles per day. The tunnel is operated by SISEX SA, which is jointly owned by TGSB (Tunnel du Grand-Saint-Bernard) and SITRASB (Traforo del Grand San Bernardo). Because the tunnel is jointly operated by Swiss and Italian authorities, it was decided in 2006 to charge tolls without VAT or other sales taxes.
The Great St. Bernard Tunnel is a special toll route and therefore subject to a special toll. This means that regardless of the vignette requirement or the heavy vehicle charge, you must pay an additional fee to use the Great St. Bernard Tunnel. Further information about the special toll is available in our guide. The toll amount varies depending on the vehicle category:
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