The inside of the almost 11-year-old tunnel, with its cracks and its rivulets of water, has made it far from a welcoming 'gateway' to Cornwall. It has sparked calls for it to at least be given a cosmetic face-lift, to make it more attractive and welcoming.
Residents who have travelled through tunnels elsewhere in the world have returned with varying ideas. Mona Tomaszewska, born in Saltash and currently town mayor, has recently stayed in Norway where she said the tunnels were 'bright and clean' and not 'awful', which is the adjective she used to describe the local tunnel, opened on 9 September l988 by the then Secretary of State for Transport, Paul Channing.
Eric Lewis said he had journeyed through the Alps, through the Mont Blanc tunnel, which he said was not 'damp and crumbling', despite having a huge weight of snow on top of it.
Island
However, one resident, who has lived in Saltash for 75 years, said that he had just returned from Madeira where the tunnels across the island were in the same state, and were designed to leak to stop a build-up of a water.
He couldn't understand 'what the fuss was about'.
The tunnel itself is 409 metres in length, and provides three lanes of traffic in a l0 metre wide carriageway.
It is nine metres in height, and some l00 men worked on it for almost two years while it was being built. A concrete lining suitable for the rock around the tunnel was installed, together with special ventilating fans and TV monitors.
Around 50,000 cubic metres of material were removed during the excavation, the tunnel going under the town, under Glebe Avenue, Hillside Road and Deer Park.
One of the very first people to walk through it was veteran Saltash resident, Jack Allen, who led the way in front of the official opening party to take photographs.
He feels it should be 'refurbished, redecorated and cleaned up a bit'. Madeleine Ryan, who works in Marianne Fashions in Fore Street, has stronger views.
She described the tunnel as 'all black, with no redeeming feature.'
She said: 'It's not at all inviting, and something should be done to improve it. I've been through other tunnels which have been well lit and very clean. Not only are there cracks in the Saltash tunnel, there are also weeds everywhere.'
Money
She was joined in her condemnation by local tenant, Hugo Contreras, who said he felt the tunnel was 'very ugly', but wondered how much money it would take to clean it properly.
Anne and Peter Dawe, who moved to the area from Fleetwood in Lancashire some years ago spoke of water leaking everywhere from the tunnel's cracks, Peter exclaiming: 'It definitely wants something doing to it!'
Anne, who said she finds Saltash a lovely place to live, pointed out that not only is the tunnel unpleasant, but it also means many visitors bypass Saltash, and so are unable to appreciate it. Visitors Philip Taylor from Sweden, and his wife Chris, believed some sort of cosmetic work should be carried out to alleviate the 'awfulness' of the tunnel.
They had been visiting family who live in the town, and apart from the ugliness of that stretch of road, very much enjoyed their stay - Chris stressing how much she loves the area.
Oozing
The current, oozing, state of the tunnel was also condemned by Looe resident, Barry Nicholls, who finds himself travelling through there quite a few times during the year.
It was also commented on by Trevor and Catherine Hughes who were returning to see parents in St Cleer and Tremar with their baby, Merryn. They all agreed it was 'a real mess'. Mrs Tomaszewska and Mr Lewis said that if the Department of Transport had initially listened to local residents the damp problem would have been anticipated.
Mr Lewis explained: 'At the public meeting a number of elderly residents pointed out that local houses all had wells, and that Springfield was called that for a very good reason. The engineers didn't seem to know about the wells until then, but said they would be able to cap them.'
Mrs Tomaszewska pointed out that the area is shillet, which means it will always be wet. She said covering the tunnel with murals to improve it would not help, because the water would eventually destroy them. She described the tunnel as an 'on-going problem'
At the time the £8 million tunnel was built it was said to have presented a unique test to experts, resident engineer John Edwards explaining: 'It was a challenge in that it was a very large cross-section in upper Devonian slate, which was weakened to varying degrees, and with very little cover over the crown of the tunnel.'
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said that the tunnel is regularly cleaned, the most recent such operation - which leads to the tunnel being closed for a period - being in May/June this year.
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