Tyne Tunnel
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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.
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[edit] The Tyne Tunnel project
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.
[edit] Tyne Cyclist and Pedestrian Tunnel
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). They remain the longest wooden escalators in the world.
In 2005 The SoundEx filmed a music video to their song Street Freak in the tunnel. The band were able to close the cyclist tunnel off for 2 days and use it free of charge to bring the tunnel publicity.
[edit] The Tyne Vehicular tunnel
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.
The current toll to pass through the tunnel is £1.10 per car each way. HGV's and lorries attract a higher toll of £1.50. This was recently increased from £1 on 1st January 2007, with subsequent increases every year until the new tunnel is open.
[edit] Proposed new Tyne Tunnel
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 and Wear Passenger Transport Authority (TWPTA) is leading a scheme to build a second, £139 million tunnel. The tunnel would be slightly to the east 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 TWPTA 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.
[edit] Reference
- New Civil Engineer - 25th March 2004, pp. 10 & 12.
