The road tunnel "Maurice Lemaire", the longest road tunnel located wholly on French soil, links Saint-Marie-aux-Mines with Lusse in the Vosges mountains. To meet current safety standards, a new safety tunnel had to be bored through gneiss and granite, at a distance of about 16 meters from the main tunnel.

About 6.2 kilometers of the tunnel were bored by a Herrenknecht Gripper TBM. This represented a first for gripper technology in France. With weekly best performances of nearly 234 meters, and a daily record of over 55 meters, the machine crossed the finish line at Lusse on June 2, 2006. The "Maurice Lemaire" tunnel was re-opend for public in winter 2007/2008.