(FORTUNE Magazine) – Would you believe that the shortest trip from London to Paris may be by way of Boise, Idaho? That's the residence of construction consultant Jack Lemley, 54, who has been named CEO of Transmanche Link by directors of the Anglo-French consortium digging the $8.4 billion tunnel under the English Channel. Lemley, who has held top jobs at construction giants Morrison Knudsen and Blount, was picked partly for his international experience (projects in Colombia and Saudi Arabia) after a worldwide search by Egon Zehnder, the Zurich-based search firm. ''I'm surprised, pleased, and excited as hell,'' he says. Lemley is past president of the International Tunneling Association and a member of the Moles, a trade organization for tunnel diggers. He says building the Chunnel, a 35-mile twin-tube railway tunnel scheduled to open in 1993, will require diplomacy as well as engineering skills: ''All the various interests have to be considered.'' Can someone from Idaho make peace between historically bickering nations? It's just a matter of building bridges -- or tunnels.