THE WORLD'S BIGGEST

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 147, 19 December 1933, Page 11

THE WORLD'S BIGGEST

TRIP THROUGH IN CAR

Recently I hud the privilege of- driving a car through the world's biggest underwater tunnel, which, when completed, will allow vehicles ,to pass from Liverpool to Birkenhead at tho rate of 1500 per hour, says a writer in "Tho Motor." At tho moment, a roadway of cast-iron setts is being laid, the approaches and ventilation shafts are in process of construction, and certain equipment has still to be installed; but one can see how the tunnel will appear when ' opened to traffic.

. The main Liverpool entrance is in tho Old Haymarket, many buildings in the vicinity of which have been demolished, thus enabling the engineers to lay out a fine, open, D-shaped space, or "trafßc plaza," with the ends of Dale Street and Byrom Street on one side, the ends of Victoria Street and Whitechapol and Manchester Street on the other; and in front the beautiful gardens'of St. John, crowned by that magnificent building, St. George's Hall, at the top.

On entering the plaza, car owners will find a series of " toll-"booths, so arranged as_ to issue tickets for eight vehicles simultaneously; thereafter traffic forming itself into a stream, two vehicles abreast, proceeding down the l-ln-30 gradient until Well bciow the Mersey, whore tho roadway is prac tically level. Ample light is provided by lamps which are inset and flush with tho tunnel roof. After tho Blackwall tunnel, one cannot but appreciate this newer method of lighting, in which all glare and reflections Sre eliminated.

Along each side of tho tunnel is a footpath, for the use of patrolmen, whose ditties will bo described in a moment. Every 150 feet there is a fire station, with an illuminated sign and the surround painted red, thus standing out baldly against the black glass panelling Which i'OnnS a dado about seven feet in depth throughout the tunnel.

Each fire station ' contains water hydrant, chemical fro extinguishers, two boxes of sand, and a telephone by which patrolmen can communicate with tho control-room. In th& event of a vehicle catching fire, the nearest paf.I'Oliiiaii telephones to an official on duty in the control-room, who isolates that section of the tunnel and makes tho best possible arrangements (depending upon which section contains the burning vehicle) for (1) vehielos ahead df the fire to leave- as rapidly as they can, and (2) vehicles behind to turn or reverse out. Meantime, if a lino of vehicles should be delayed, a largo neon sign will bo used every few yards, "Stop Your Engines," thus reducing to a minimum, the formation Of carbon-monoxide. THE AMBULANCE WAOON. A flashing signal at fire station's will enable tho control-room officials to communicate with patrolmen in any part of the tunnel, while any patrolman can communicate with the control-room by using a telephone. The tunnel organisation has been planned first and foremost to hasten the flow of vehicles.

Stops in the tunnel will HOt bo permitted, 'and "ambulances" will haul away broken-down cars by means of special cranes and lifting tackle. From Haymarket Street, Liverpool, to Chester Strodt, Birkenhead, the tunnel is 44 feet ill diametor with a 36 feet roadvray, accommodating four lines of traffic, two lines in each direction. Entering from Haymarket today one sees tile beginning of the iron-setted surface; then shortly afterwards, one finds a large, and complicated Sc&ffoldittg' Oil the right. At this point traffic from the Liverpool Cock entrance joins the main under-Watef tunnel, an electroTrtatio signal guarding the junction. Then one negotiates the subaqueous section, from which lio less than 1,200,000 tons of rock was excavated, 80,000 tons of iron being used for the lining. After this section one becomes awsfre of aft alteration,, iv gradient—reverting to the l-in-30' slope and on the right appears another smaller tunnel leading to Birkenhead Docks.

According to the estimates of traffic experts the number of vehicles which will pass through the tunnel in its first year will bo 1,350,000, compared with the ferry traffic of 1,018,000 for the past twelve months.

The tunnel Will shorten the journey from Liverpool to Birkenhead to five minutes, instead of thirty-five. It was originally intended to finish tho Mersey Tunnel next May, but at tho qnd of last year the tunnel committee decided to attempt expedition of the work. This involved tho erection of a tomporary ventilator plant at a cost, of £75,000.

Tho tunnel, according to a statement by Sir Thomas White, chairman of tlia tunnel Committee, was expected to cost £7,723,000. Tho cost of tho works he said, would be £645,000 less than that amount, and of that stint £600,000 was for accumulated interest crfpitalised, and £45,000 for various Parliamentary promotions. For the purpose of carrying on the tunnel every year there would bo required an income,Of £220,000. To redeem the debt and pay the interest £153,000 would be required, and £47,000 would go into the Loans Equalisation JTund, which became operative forty years hence; there would be £ 10,000 for reserve fund and £10,000 for working expenses. The income from tolls Would be £110,000 and of the remaining £110,000 Birkenhead would find £18,000, and the rest would have to come from Liverpool. Tho contribution of Biricenhead was limited to a rate of 5 l*3d, but there was no limit to Liverpool's liability. The tunnel committee were proposing to take over the Birkenhead Ferry undertaking for 21 years. Extra expense bad been caused because tho noxious fumes had to bo carried above high buildings recently erected, and the vibration caused by fails had to be deadened, by cavity walls.