Nick+Smith

==== Mont-Saint-Michel is a tidal island and a part of Normandy, France. It is located about one kilometer off the country's north coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon river, close Avranches. The population of the island is 41, as of 2006. The island has been a strategic point holding fortifications since ancient times, and since the 8th century it became the seat of the Saint-Michel monastery, from which the name comes from. ====

==== In the prehistoric years, the bay was land. As the ocean rose, erosion shaped the land after millions of years. Over the years, the granite in the ground resisted erosion, and emerged from the ground. The rocks of granite formed other islands as well, including Lillemer, the Mont-Dol, Tombelaine (the island north), and Mont Tombe, later called Mont-Saint-Michel. ====

==== Mont Saint-Michel used to be connected to the mainland, via a small land bridge, which before everything became modernized was covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. This connection has been messed up by several developments. Over the centuries, the coastal flats have been polderised to create some pasture. Thus the distance between the shore and the south coast of Mont-Saint-Michel has become smaller. The Couesnon River has become a canal, reducing the flow of water and thereby encouraging a silting-up of the bay. In 1879, the land bridge was made into a causeway. This prevented the tide from scouring the silt around the mount. ==== ====On 16 June 2006, the French prime minister and regional authorities announced a 164 million euro project (//Project Mont-Saint-Michel//) to build a hydraulic dam using the waters of the river Couesnon and of tides to help remove the silt moved by the rising tides, and to make Mont-Saint-Michel an island again. It was projected to be completed by 2012. ==== ====The making of the dam began in 2009 and is now finished. The project also included the destruction of the causeway that had been built on top of the small land bridge and enlarged to join the island to the continent, and was used also as a parking lot for visitors. It will be replaced by an elevated light bridge, under which the waters will flow more freely, and that will improve the efficiency of the now operational dam, and the construction of another parking lot on the mainland. Visitors will use small shuttles to cross the future bridge which will still be open to pedestrians and regular bicycles. ====