Today
When driving through the tunnel, it appears as semi-circular. It is circular, however, and the area below the roadway is known as Central Avenue. The roadway acts freestanding. The area beneath the roadway was planned to house an electric tram route, but it was instead used to house a gas pipe, which was later abandoned. It is still used – it is the main ventilation fresh air supply duct. It also carries services (cables, pipes etc.).
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 project to bring the tunnel into line with the highest European safety standards. Each refuge is 21 metres (69 ft) long and 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide, accessible from 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 Tunnels Police control room. All seven refuges are linked by a walkway below the road surface, with exits at the Liverpool and Birkenhead ends.
In September 2009, scenes from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 were filmed in the tunnel.
As of 2012, the toll fee is £1.50 per journey for a single passenger car of typical size. Average daily traffic through the tunnel currently stands at 35,000 vehicles, which equates to just under 12.8 million per year.
Read more about this topic: Queensway Tunnel
Famous quotes containing the word today:
““I’m very brave generally,” he went on in a low voice: “only today I happen to have a headache.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“To be faced with what so-and-so’s mother lets him do, or what the teacher said in class today or what all the kids are wearing is to be required to reexamine some part of our belief structure. Each time we rethink our values we reaffirm them or begin to change them. Seen in this way, parenthood affords us an exceptional opportunity for growth.”
—Ruth Davidson Bell (20th century)
“These native villages are as unchanging as the woman in one of their stories. When she was called before a local justice he asked her age. “I have 45 years.” “But,” said the justice, “you were forty-five when you appeared before me two years ago.” “Señor Judge,” she replied proudly, drawing herself to her full height, “I am not of those who are one thing today and another tomorrow!””
—State of New Mexico, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)