The British government has given the green light for a controversial $2.2 billion road tunnel below Stonehenge, despite an outcry from activists. The World Heritage Site lies alongside a major highway, the A303, which has become infamous for bottleneck traffic jams. Drudging up a dual-carriageway beneath the landmark would dampen noise and hide the cars, reinstating it back into the landscape.
Advocacy groups like the Stonehenge Alliance, however, are concerned that the tunnel is too short. At two miles long, it would be built within the site’s three-mile perimeter. In fear of damaging the megalith and half a million artifacts in the ground before archaeologists can dig them up, UNESCO discouraged the tunnel’s construction. In the coming six-week period to challenge the project in courts, people will gather from around the world to protest. “If they really wanted to do this, they should have done it properly with a much longer tunnel,” says Arthur Pendragon, a Druid who claims to be the reincarnation of King Arthur. “Not one that pops up at both ends in the world heritage site.”
