Queensway Tunnel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Queensway Tunnel is a road tunnel under the River Mersey, in the north west of England, between Liverpool and Birkenhead. It is often called the Birkenhead Tunnel to specify it serves Birkenhead as opposed to the Kingsway Tunnel, an alternative tunnel crossing the Mersey, which serves Wallasey.
[edit] History
In the 1920s there were concerns about the long queues of cars and lorries at the Mersey Ferry terminal and in 1925, the construction of the first Mersey Road Tunnel started to a design by consulting engineer Basil Mott. Mott supervised the construction in association with John Brodie, who, as City Engineer of Liverpool, had co-ordinated the feasibility studies made by Sir Maurice FitzMaurice and Mott. In 1928 the two pilot tunnels met to within less than an inch (25 mm). The first tunnel under the River Mersey was for the Mersey Railway in 1886.
The tunnel entrances, toll booths and ventilation building exteriors were designed by architect Herbert James Rowse, who is frequently but incorrectly credited with the whole civil engineering project, they are Grade II listed buildings.
The tunnel was opened on July 18, 1934 by King George V and Queen Mary in honour of whom the tunnel is named. 200,000 people watched the opening from the Old Haymarket entrance, in Liverpool.
It cost £8,000,000 to build, and 1,200,000 tons of rock, gravel and clay were excavated, with some of this rubble being used to build Otterspool Promenade.
1,700 men worked in the tunnel of which 17 were killed during work.
[edit] Today
When driving through the tunnel, it appears as a half-circle. It is circular, however, and the area below the roadway is known as Central Avenue. Originally it was planned to run electric trams through it, but it was used to house a gas pipe which was later abandoned. Now, it is used to monitor the tunnel's 10,660 cracks, and to pump out water seeped in from the Mersey.
In April 2004 construction began of seven emergency refuges below the road deck, each capable of holding 180 people, as part of a £9 million safety project to bring the tunnel into line with the highest European standards. Each refuge is 21 metres long and three metres wide, and reached via highly visible access points in the main tunnel walls. The refuges have fire resistant doors, ramps for wheelchair access, a supply of bottled water, a toilet, and a video link to the Mersey Tunnel Police control room. All seven refuges are linked by a walkway below the road surface, with exits at the Liverpool and Birkenhead ends.
The tunnel has two branches leading off the main tunnel to the dock areas on both sides of the river. The Birkenhead branch tunnel (known as the Rendel St. branch) is disused.
By the 1960s, demand dictated the construction of a further tunnel, the Kingsway Tunnel, which opened in 1971.
