Tyne Tunnel
The
Tyne Tunnel is a two-lane
toll vehicular
tunnel under the
River Tyne, England, completed in
1967, and connecting
Jarrow on the south side of the river with
Howdon on the north. The tunnel is one of three forming the
Tyne Tunnel project; less well known are the pedestrian and cyclists' tunnels opened in
1951. The tunnels are some 11 kilometres downstream and to the east of
Newcastle Upon Tyne. The road tunnel is part of the
A19 road.
A scheme for the construction of a set of three tunnels under the Tyne was put forward by the
Durham and
Northumberland County Councils in
1937. After prolonged negotiations with the
Ministry of Transport the scheme was approved in
1943. The
Tyne Tunnel Act - the legislative instrument necessary to enable the construction of the tunnels - received
Royal Assent in
1946. Post war restrictions on capital expenditure delayed the construction of the vehicular tunnel, but work started on the smaller tunnels for pedestrians and cyclists in 1947.
Tyne Cyclist and Pedestrian Tunnel runs under the River Tyne between Howdon and Jarrow, and was opened in
1951. It actually consists of two tunnels running in parallel, one for
pedestrian use with a 10'6" (3.2 m) diameter, and a wider 12' (3.66 m) diameter tunnel for
pedal cyclists. The tunnels are 900 ft (274 m) in length, and lie at 40 ft (12.3 m) below the river bed.
At each end, the tunnels are connected to surface buildings by four
escalators and
lifts. The Waygood-Otis escalators have 306 wooden steps each, and are the original models from 1951. At the time of construction, they were the longest single-rise escalators in the world, with a vertical rise of 85ft (25.9m) and a length of
approximately 200 ft (60 m). (More recently an escalator with a longer vertical rise of 90 ft (27.4 m), 197 ft (60 m) in length was constructed in
Angel underground station in
London).
The vehicular tunnel is 5,500 ft (1.68 km) long and has a diameter of 31'3" (9.5 m) with a roadbed 24' (7.3 m) wide. It was opened by
Queen Elizabeth II on the
19 October 1967, but commenced operational use only in
1968, on completion of the northern link roads. It was designed to handle 25,000 vehicles per day.
Current utilisation of the tunnel is 34,000 vehicles per day and forecast to rise to 43,000 per day by 2021. As at March 2004, the Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive (TWPTE) is leading a scheme to build a second, £139 million tunnel. The tunnel would be slightly to the west of the existing tunnel, and the pair would allow each tunnel to serve two lanes of traffic each travelling in the same direction; the current tunnel has two single lanes of traffic in opposing directions, representing an avoidable risk. The UK Government gave the go-ahead for the scheme in July 2005. Construction is expected to start in Autumn 2007, last three and a half years and be open by 2010
The TWPTE proposal is to let a
Private Finance Initiative 30 year
design build finance operate contract. The toll will rise to between £1.55 and £2.15 at today's prices by the time the new tunnel opens.
*
New Civil Engineer - 25
th March 2004, pp. 10 & 12.
Websites
*
The Tyne Tunnels Website*
New Tyne Crossing
