Rotherhithe Tunnel

A101 road
Rotherhithe Tunnel entrance
Route information
History:	Opened in 1904, completed in 1908
Major junctions
North-East end:	Limehouse
	A13 road A200 road
South-West end:	Rotherhithe
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways • A and B road zones

The Rotherhithe entrance of the Rotherhithe Tunnel, 1909

The Rotherhithe Tunnel is a road tunnel crossing beneath the River Thames in East London. It connects the Ratcliff district of Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets north of the river to Rotherhithe in the London Borough of Southwark south of the river. It is designated as the A101. It was formally opened in 1908 by George Prince of Wales (later King George V), and Richard Robinson, Chairman of the London County Council.

It should not be confused with the nearby but earlier and much more historic Thames Tunnel, designed and built under the supervision of Marc Isambard Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel, which is currently used by London Overground for the East London Line.

Construction

Designed by Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice, the Engineer to the London County Council, the tunnel's construction was authorised by the Thames Tunnel (Rotherhithe and Ratcliff) Act of 1900 despite considerable opposition from local residents, nearly 3,000 of whom were displaced by the tunnel works.^[1]

The work took place between 1904 and 1908, executed by the resident engineer Edward H. Tabor and the contractors Price and Reeves at a cost of about £1 million. The tunnel was excavated partly using a tunnelling shield and partly through cut-and-cover methods. The entrance arches of the tunnel are in fact the cutting edges of the original tunnelling shield, which measured 30 feet 8 inches (9.35 m) in diameter,^[2] forming in effect a loading gauge for the tunnel.

Physical characteristics

Sectional map of the Rotherhithe Tunnel, 1906

The Rotherhithe Tunnel consists of a single bore, 4,860 feet (1,481 m) long, carrying a two-lane carriageway 48 feet (14.5 m) below the high-water level of the Thames, with a maximum depth of 75 feet (23 m) below the surface. Four shafts were sunk alongside the tunnel to aid construction and to serve later as ventilation and entrance shafts. The two riverside shafts, built in red brick with stone dressings, were fitted with iron spiral staircases to serve as pedestrian entrances. They are now closed to the public (the roofs were damaged during WWII, and the iron staircases became dangerous), and currently the only entrance to the tunnel is via the main portals at each end (the bases of the staircases can still be seen as you pass through the tunnel). Pedestrian (and cycle) access is still permitted in the Rotherhithe bore, however, the distances involved for pedestrians increased significantly when the spiral staircases closed because rather than just crossing the river, a pedestrian has to follow the carriageway ramp all the way back to the surface. However, the shafts have recently had new roofs fitted, and there are rumoured plans to reopen the spiral staircases.^{[citation needed]}

The tunnel is entered via a sloping brick-lined open-air cutting at each end, leading to the entrance portals, followed by a short cut-and-cover section of tunnel until the first of the tunnel's four shafts are reached. The tunneled section is situated between shafts 1 and 4, measures 3,689 feet (1,125 m) long and is lined with cast iron segments.^[3] At the time of its construction, the tunnel was said to be "the largest subaqueous tunnel in existence".^[4]

The Rotherhithe Tunnel was originally designed to serve foot and horse-drawn traffic passing between the docks on either side of the river. This accounts for some of its more unusual design features. The roadways are narrow, with each lane only some 8 feet (2.4 m) wide, and two footways of between 4 and 6 feet (1.2 to 2 m) wide on either side. The tunnel is shallow, with a maximum gradient of 1 in 36 (2.8%), to cater for non-mechanised traffic. Its route includes sharp, nearly right-angled bends at the points where the tunnel goes under the river bed. These served two purposes: avoiding the local docks on each side of the river, and preventing horses from seeing daylight at the end of the tunnel too early which might make them bolt for the exit.

This has made it difficult for motorised vehicles to traverse the tunnel safely. Large vehicles cannot easily pass the sharp bends and are therefore banned from entering the tunnel. The speed limit is 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) and as of 2011 will be enforced using average speed cameras. A 2003 survey rated the Rotherhithe Tunnel the tenth most dangerous tunnel in the whole of Europe due to its poor safety features.^[5] Its proximity to the river also made it vulnerable to flooding, as happened in the 1928 Thames flood.^[6]

Usage

The tunnel entrance on the South bank.

Like many other London tunnels and bridges, the Rotherhithe Tunnel now carries far more traffic than it was designed for. It was well-used from the start, with 2,600 vehicles a day using it soon after it opened — a figure which was seen as easily justifying the expense of its construction. By 1955, usage had quadrupled to 10,500 vehicles a day^[1] and by 2005 usage had tripled again, to over 34,000 vehicles a day.^[7] The tunnel's heavy usage, particularly during rush hours, can lead to significant congestion and tailbacks in the vicinity.

Alternative crossings include Tower Bridge to the west or the Greenwich foot tunnel to the east. Rotherhithe station is almost adjacent to the southern tunnel entrance, whilst Wapping station is the closest station on the north side to the tunnel entrance in Limehouse.

Pedestrians may still use the tunnel and although approximately 20 do so per day, travelling this route on foot is not advised, due to the high levels of pollution produced by the traffic.^[7] For safety, most cyclists ride along the ramp on either side of the carriageway, rather than using the carriageway itself.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rotherhithe Tunnel

• Crossings of the River Thames
• List of tunnels in the United Kingdom
• Tunnels underneath the River Thames
• Thames Tunnel

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Coordinates: 51°30′23″N 0°02′55″W / 51.506501°N 0.048593°W / 51.506501; -0.048593

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