GREAT MERSEY TUNNEL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21961, 19 November 1934, Page 11

GREAT MERSEY TUNNEL

ONE OF WORLD'S WONDERS "BOULEVARD UNDER RIVER" [from our own correspondent] LONDON, Oct. 11 Sir Thomas White, chairman of the Mersey Tunnel Committee, spoke at a luncheon regarding the present position and possible developments of the great engineering feat, deferring to the finance, he said, the pessimists had been confounded. They banked, he said, on getting £BO,OOO in nine months, but as a matter of fact they had got nearly that sum after three months' working. It was admitted that curiosity on tho part of motorists during the summer had helped the earnings, but since then the decline tbej r had anticipated had not taken place. He was not, however, living in a fool's paradise; they would work to make that a stabilised figure, and even to improve upon it as time went on. In three months, said Sir Thomas, the committee had handled 866,000 vehicles and had carried 1,120,000 passengers. The ventilation question, which gave cause for so much perturbation at one time, had been most successfully solved. "We on the tunnel committee," he added, "have*nearly finished our work, but the tunnel itself is only just commencing its work. The work of the engineers is not yet completed. We ha*e got all the vast power required not only for the main tunnel, but to accomplish the ventilation of the lower half."

Mr. Ole Singstad, consulting engineer of the Holland Tunnel, j\ew York, said he agreed that the Mersey Tunnel was one of the wonders of the world. They had built not only a tunnel, but a great boulevard under the river. Even allowing for "curiosity" traffic, he thought it very likely that by the end of the first year their estimates would be very much exceeded.