tunnel
A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...
under
Limehouse
Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains throu ...
in East London on the A1203 road. The tunnel links the eastern end of The Highway to
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...
in
London Docklands
London Docklands is an area of London encompassing the city’s former docks. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of London Borough of Southwark, Southwark, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets, London ...
. Built between 1989 and 1993 at a cost of £293,000,000 it has been calculated as the most expensive road scheme in Britain per mile, working out at £50,500 per foot at 2011 prices. It is the second largest non- estuarial road tunnel in the UK, after the Hindhead Tunnel in Surrey.
History
During the early 1980s, it was clear that the existing road infrastructure serving the
London Docklands
London Docklands is an area of London encompassing the city’s former docks. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of London Borough of Southwark, Southwark, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets, London ...
development zone had no spare capacity, and the Limehouse Link formed the western part of improvements proposed by the London Docklands Development Corporation. Planning started in 1986, the designers were Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners. The design of the tunnel approaches and portal buildings was carried out by Anthony Meats and Rooney O'Carroll Architects as part of an overall consultancy on the LDDC highway infrastructure programme. Construction began in November 1989 and the tunnel project was officially opened in May 1993. At the time it was the second biggest engineering project in Europe after the
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
.
Construction
Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, the company is active ac ...
and Amec formed a joint venture to build the tunnel. Called 'Balfour Beatty Fairclough Joint Venture', the project involved five million man hours over 193 weeks.
Description
The tunnel is actually twin parallel tunnels built by the
cut-and-cover
A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two Portal (architecture), portals common at each end, though ther ...
method, with the tunnels under waterways built bottom-up behind temporary cofferdam walls. The western portal of the tunnel is at the eastern end of The Highway (A1203), just east of its junction with Butcher Row. The access roads from the Highway into the tunnel run adjacent to the access roads to the Rotherhithe Tunnel for a short distance; the northern portal of that tunnel lies just north of the Link tunnel entrance. Heading east, the tunnel passes under the north side of Limehouse Basin, turns south-east to pass underneath Limekiln Dock and Dundee Wharf close to the embankment walls of the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...
before turning north-east under Westferry Road. The eastern portal to the tunnel, emerging onto the A1261 Aspen Way, is just north of the Canary Wharf development, near West India Quay DLR station. Through the Blackwall area, the eastern extremity of Aspen Way includes a flyover crossing of a roundabout close to the line of the twin tunnels of the Blackwall Tunnel.
The tunnel has a speed limit, enforced by SpeedCurb speed cameras above the carriageway at the tunnel entrances, exits and inside the tunnel.
The Limehouse Link tunnel is notable for including slip roads to and from Westferry Road towards the eastern end of the twin tunnels. Complex ground conditions and the need to avoid several key existing structures including other tunnels and a river basin increased costs.
New radio and loudspeaker
public address
A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...
systems were installed in early 2008.
Art
The tunnel structures feature substantial works of public art. The western portal has
Zadok Ben-David
Zadok Ben-David (Hebrew: צדוק בן-דוד; born 1949) is an Israeli artist working in London. He was born in Beihan, Yemen; his family immigrated to Israel when he was an infant.Nigel Hall. The eastern services building (Westferry Road) has artwork commissioned from UK artist and sculptor Michael Kenny (1941–1999), a relief work in Kilkenny limestone called ''On Strange And Distant Islands''.
Sport
The tunnel is closed to road traffic and used by runners in The Big Half, an annual half marathon held on a Sunday morning in early September.