History
The older western tunnel was designed by Sir Alexander Binnie and built by S. Pearson & Sons, between 1892 and 1897. It was originally commissioned by the Metropolitan Board of Works but responsibility passed to the London County Council when the former body was abolished in 1889. The cost of the project was £1.4 million, and seven lives were lost during construction. The tunnel was officially opened by the Prince of Wales on 22 May 1897.
The tunnel was constructed using tunnelling shield and compressed air techniques; the shield pioneer James Henry Greathead was a consultant. Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the architect of the London sewerage system, was also involved in the original planning of the project. To clear the site in Greenwich, more than 600 houses had to be demolished, including one reputedly once owned by Sir Walter Raleigh.
Today the western bore is only used for northbound traffic (and is not accessible to vehicles taller than 4 m (13 ft)). The southern portal features a striking gateway built of red and cream stone. The tunnel itself has several sharp bends, whose purpose may have been to prevent horses from bolting once they saw daylight (motor vehicles were rare in 1897), or maybe to avoid the foundations of other structures; another theory suggests the bends avoided tunnelling through a Black Death burial ground. The tunnel carries two lanes of traffic, though higher vehicles need to keep to the left-hand lane so that they do not hit the tunnel's inner lining.
Construction for the new eastern tunnel, 8.59 m (28 feet 2 inches) in diameter, started on 27 June 1960, and was opened on 2 August 1967 by Desmond Plummer, Leader of the Greater London Council. It was wider and usable by vehicles up to 4.72 m (15.5 ft). At time of opening, the strip lighting in the tunnel was commended as "a big improvement" on the standard provided in the "previous" tunnel. In contrast with the Victorian northbound tunnel, the eastern tunnel has no sharp bends and emergency telephones were provided. Its distinctive ventilation towers (right) were designed in 1964 by Terry Farrell, then architect for the Greater London Council. The northern pair stands at Blackwall, while the southern are now contained within the O2 Arena (opened as the Millennium Dome). The towers were Grade II listed in 2000, and the new tunnel itself was refurbished in 2002.
Pedestrians have been banned from using the Blackwall Tunnels since May 1969.
Read more about this topic: Blackwall Tunnel
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