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 North Shields and Howdon on the north. A toll tunnel is a special road Tunnel whose construction and/or maintenance costs are in part recouped through a Toll charged for passing through it A tunnel is an underground passageway The definition of what constitutes a tunnel is not universally agreed upon The River Tyne is a River in England. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers the North Tyne and the South Tyne. Jarrow (ˈjæroʊ or /ˈjærə/ is a Town on the River Tyne, England with a Population around 27000 (2001 Census) North Shields (or locally just Shields) is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North Howdon is a place in Tyne and Wear, England. Howdon is an area in the eastern part of Wallsend, a former coal-mining and shipbuilding town on the The tunnel is one of three forming the Tyne Tunnel project; the others are the pedestrian and cyclist tunnels opened in 1951. The tunnels are 11 km (7 mi) downstream and to the east of Newcastle upon Tyne. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States Newcastle upon Tyne ( (often shortened to Newcastle) is a city and Metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, England The road tunnel is part of the A19 road. The A19 is a major Road in England, running parallel to and east of the A1 road.
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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 . Northumberland is a county in the North East of England. The non-metropolitan county of Northumberland borders Cumbria to the west 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 . The granting of Royal Assent is the formal method by which a constitutional monarch completes the legislative process of Lawmaking by formally assenting to an 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. Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
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 ft 6 in (3. A pedestrian is a person travelling on foot whether Walking or Running. A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit Inches redirects here To see the Les Savy Fav album see Inches. 2 m) diameter, and a larger 12 ft (3. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International 7 m) diameter tunnel for pedal cyclists. Cycling is the use of Bicycles or - less commonly - Unicycles Tricycles Quadricycles and other similar wheeled Human powered vehicles Both tunnels are 900 ft (270 m) in length, and lie 40 ft (12. 2 m) below the river bed.
At each end, the tunnels are connected to surface buildings by two escalators and a lift. An escalator is a Conveyor transport device for transporting people consisting of individual linked steps that move up or down on tracks which keep the treads An elevator or lift is a Transport device used to move people or goods vertically from one floor to another 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 85 ft (26 m) and a length of 200 ft (61 m). (In 1992 escalators with a longer vertical rise of 90 ft (27. 4 m) and 197 ft (60 m) in length were constructed at Angel station on the London Underground. Angel tube station is a London Underground station in The Angel, Islington. The London Underground is a Metro system serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire ) The Tyne Tunnel escalators remain the longest wooden escalators in the world.
In 2005 The SoundEx filmed a music video to their song Street Freak in the tunnel. TheSoundEx, also known as "The Sound Explosion" are a self-proclaimed Rock n' Soul band from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The band were able to close the cyclist tunnel off for 2 days and use it free of charge to bring the tunnel publicity.
The Tyne Vehicular tunnel
The vehicular tunnel is 5,500 ft (1. 68 km) long and has a diameter of 31 ft 3 in (9. 5 m) with a roadbed 24 ft (7. 3 m). It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 19 October 1967, but commenced operational use only in 1968, on completion of the northern link roads. For the ship see RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Context States headed by Elizabeth II Events 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. It was designed to handle 25,000 vehicles per day. The original toll for cars was 2s 6d.
The Tyne Tunnel is currently has one of the cheapest tolls for a tunnel of its size in Europe. As of May 2008, the toll charge for cars is £1. 20. Motorcycles are charged 20p, whilst lorries and buses are charged £1. 50. A 10% discount is available to Tyne Tunnel permit holders. The permits are passive electronic discs stuck to the inside of the vehicles windscreen and is electronically read by the toll booth's scanner, whereupon the toll is debited from the permit holders account.
The tunnel celebrated its 40th birthday on Friday 19 October 2007. Events 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
An agreement between TWPTA and Go North East has been made so now, the Cross Tyne bus services, 9 and 9A, no longer have to pay a toll to use the tunnel. This means more savings for passengers as ticket prices are to be reduced.
Proposed new Tyne Tunnel
Current use of the tunnel is 34,000 vehicles per day and forecast to rise to 43,000 per day by 2021. As of March 2004 the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority (TWPTA) is leading a scheme to build a second, £139 million tunnel. March 2004: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September The Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (TWPTE using the brandname of Nexus is the Passenger Transport Executive for the metropolitan county of Tyne and 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. 2005: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October Construction is expected to start in Spring 2008, last three and a half years to four years and be open to traffic by 2011.
The present timeline for the new Tyne Tunnel is as follows:
- Transfer Tunnels and Staff to Concessionaire: 1 February 2008
- Main work starts: spring 2008
- New tunnel opens: Autumn 2010
- Existing tunnel closes for refurbishment: Autumn 2010
- Both existing and new tunnel fully operational: Winter 2011
The TWPTA proposal is to let a Private Finance Initiative 30 year design build finance operate contract. The Private Finance Initiative specifies a method developed initially by the United Kingdom Government, to provide financial support for " Public-Private The toll will rise to between £1. 30 and £1. 50 at today’s prices by the time the new tunnel opens.
The construction company building the new tunnel is Bouygues Construction
References
- New Civil Engineer - 25 March 2004, pp. New Civil Engineer is the weekly magazine of the Institution of Civil Engineers, (ICE the UK Chartered body that oversees the practice of Civil engineering Events 1199 - Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his death on April 6. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " 10 & 12.
External links
| West: | Crossings of the River Tyne | East: |
|---|---|---|
| Gateshead Millennium Bridge | Tyne Tunnel | Shields Ferry |
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