Grands Goulets on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Les Grands Goulets (
After rockfalls in 2000 and 2005, the road was permanently closed to vehicles and pedestrians. A replacement road tunnel, 1,710 metres long and 7 metres wide was constructed, costing €50 million; it opened in 2008. A scheme to reopen the top 200 metres of the road to pedestrians as a tourist attraction was proposed by local authorities in 2016.
The Grands Goulets are classified as a ZNIEFF or '' Zone naturelle d'intérêt écologique, faunistique et floristique'' (Natural zone of ecological interest, fauna and flora).
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
: ''The Great Bottlenecks'') is a gorge
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...
in the western part of the Vercors Massif, located in the department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
of Drôme in Southeastern France. The gorge forms the head of the Vernaison
Vernaison () is a Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in eastern France.
Geography
The city is located south of Lyon, on the right bank of the Rhône, facing several islands in ...
Valley.
Between 1844 and 1851, the Grands-Goulets Road ('' Route Départementale'' RD 518) was constructed, a "balcony road" built into the sheer limestone cliffs of the gorge to link the Pont-en-Royans area to the Vercors plateau at Échevis
Échevis is a Communes of France, commune in the Drôme Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in southeastern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Drôme department
*Parc naturel régi ...
. The single-track road has numerous tunnels and few passing-places and was formerly popular with tourists.
During the Second World War, the plateau became a stronghold of a French Resistance group called the '' Maquis du Vercors''. On 22 January 1944, a column of 300 German troops arrived at the Grands Goulets on a punitive expedition. A small force of ''Maquisards'' attempted to block their progress but were either outgunned or outflanked by '' Gebirgsjäger'' Alpine troops at each blocking position that they established. When the coloumn reached Échevis, they burned the village in retaliation for the ambush of a German staff car a few days earlier. A plaque at La Chapelle-en-Vercors
La Chapelle-en-Vercors is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Drôme department
*Parc naturel régional du Vercors
The Vercors Regional Natural Park (French: ''Parc naturel région ...
commemorates the twenty ''Maquisards'' who were killed in the fighting. The damaged road was later repaired and reopened in September 1945.
After rockfalls in 2000 and 2005, the road was permanently closed to vehicles and pedestrians. A replacement road tunnel, 1,710 metres long and 7 metres wide was constructed, costing €50 million; it opened in 2008. A scheme to reopen the top 200 metres of the road to pedestrians as a tourist attraction was proposed by local authorities in 2016.
The Grands Goulets are classified as a ZNIEFF or '' Zone naturelle d'intérêt écologique, faunistique et floristique'' (Natural zone of ecological interest, fauna and flora).
Gallery
References
45.046593, 5.352170 Canyons and gorges of Metropolitan France Landforms of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes {{Drôme-geo-stub