MERSEY TUNNEL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 9, 21 December 1933, Page 11

MERSEY TUNNEL

LIVERPOOL TO BIRKENHEAD THE WORLD'S BIGGEST. TRIP THROUGH IN CAR. Recently I had 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 the rate of 1500 per hour, says a writer in “The Motor.” At the moment, a roadway of cast-iron setts is being laid, ths approaches and ventilation shafts are in process of construction, and certain equipment has still to be installed; but one can sec how the tunnell will appear when opened to traffic. The main Liverpool entrance is in the 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 “traffic plaza,” with the ends of Dale street and Byrom street on one side, the ends of Victoria street and Whitechapel and Manchester street on tho 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-in-30 gradient until well below the Mersey, where the roadway is practically level. Ample light is provided by lamps which are inset and flush with the tunnel roof. After the Blackwall tunnel, one cannot but appreciate this newer method of lighting, in which all glare and reflections are eliminated. FIRE STATIONS. Along each aide of the tunnel is a footpath, for the use of patrolmen, whose duties will be described in a moment. Every 150 feet there is a fire station- with an illuminated sign and the surround painted red, thus standing out boldly against the black glass panelling which forms a dado about seven feet in depth throughout the tunnel. Each fire station contains water hydrant, chemical fire extinguishers, two boxes of sand, and a telephone by which patrolmen can communicate with the control-room. In the event of a vehicle catching fire, the nearest patrolman telephones to an official on duty in the control-room, who isolates that section of the tunnel and makes the host possible arrangements (depending upon which section contains the burning vehicle) for (1) vehicles ahead of the fire to leave as rapidly as they can, and (2) vehicles behind to turn or reverse out. Meantime, if a line of vehicles should be delayed, a large neon sign will be used every few .yards, “Stop Your Engines!” thus reducing to a minimum the formation of carbon-monoxide.

A flashing signal at fire stations will enable the control-room officials to communicate with patrolmen in any part of the tunnel, while any patrolman can communicate with the controlroom by using a telephone. The tunnel organisation has been planned first and foremost to hasten the flow of vehicles.

Stops in the tunnel will not bo permitted, and “ambulances” will haul away broken-down cars by means ol special cranes and lifting tackle. From Haymarket street, Liverpool, to Chester street, Birkenhead, the tunnel is 44 feet in diameter with a 36 feet roadway, accommodating four lines of traffic, two lines in each direction. En tering from Haymarket to-day one sees the beginning of the iron-setted surface ; then shortly afterwards, one finds a large and complicated scaffolding on tho right. At this point traffic from the Liverpool Dock entrance joins the main under-water tunnel, an electromatio signal guarding the junction. Then one negotiates the subaqueous section, from which no less than 1.200,000 tons of rock was excavated, 30,000 tons of iron being used for tho lining. After this section one becomes aware of an alteration in the l-in-30 slope and on the right appears another smaller tunnel leading to Birkenhead Docks.

TRAFFIC ESTIMATES. According to the estimates of traffic experts the number of vehicles which will pass through the tunnel in its first year will be 1,350,000, compared with the ferry traffic of 1,018,000 for tho 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 the Mersey Tunnel next May, but at the cud of last year the tunnel committee decided to attempt expedition of the work. This involved the erection of a temporary ventilator plant at a cost of £75,000. [Note: A cable message a few days ago announced the opening of this tunnel, m a heavy fog.] The tunnel, according to a statement by Sir Thomas White, chairman of the tunnel committee, was expected to cost £7,723,000. The cost of the works, ho said, would be £615,000 less than that amount, and of that sum £600,000 was for accumulated interest capitalised, and £45,000 for various Parliamentary promotion. For the purpose of carrying on the tunnel every year there would be 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 Fund, which became operative forty years hence; there would be £lO,OOO for reserve fund and £lO,OOO for working expenses. The income from tolls would be £llO,OOO and of the remaining £llO,OOO Birkenhead would find £lB,OOO, and the rest would have to come from Liverpool. The contribution of Birkenhead 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 had been caused because the noxious fumes had to be carried above high buildings recently erected, and the vibration caused by fans had to be deadened by cavity walls.