"MERSEY TUNNEL” FOR ROTTERDAM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 53, 4 March 1939, Page 5

"MERSEY TUNNEL” FOR ROTTERDAM

(JNE of the most important undertakings, now being carried out in Holland, is the construction of a big tunnel under the River Meuse, on which Rotterdam, the most important port of the Netherlands, is situated, writes The Hague correspondent of the London Observer. When completed, this tunnel, the first of its kind in the country—will, as to its size and capacity, only be surpassed in Europe by the tunnel under the Mersey in Liverpool. The total cost of the tunnel, which will be completed in 1941, will be more than 15.000.000 guilders, including a sum of 12.000,000 guilders for the tunnel proper. The tunnel will afford considerable relief to cross-river traffic between the right and left banks of the Meuse in Rotterdam. The left bank was, until about 1868, still quite a rural country, with only one shipbuilding yard, but after 1870 the traffic in the port of Rotterdam began to develop quickly, and since that time the* importance of the left bank as an industrial area of the city has gradually increased. In 1878 the Willemsbridge was constructed adjacent to the raliway bridge across the Meuse, and developments have far surpassed the highest expec-

tations. At present about 30 per cent, of the population of Rotterdam lives on the left bank. The recently projected town-planning scheme provides for space for about 30,000 new dwelling houses, and land for new industries has been reserved. The tunnel, which contains four tracks for motor traffic and separate tracks for pedestrians and cyclists will have nine concrete sections protected from water pressure by a coating of welded steel of a thickness of six millimetres. To obtain extra protection against rust this steel coating will be covered by a thin layer of concrete. These nine sections will be floated to a position exactly above the proposed course of the tunnel and will then be sunk into a channel across the river, which will have previously been made by dredgers. The parts of the tunnel will end on each bank in special ventilation buildings with huge installations for providing fresh air. On each bank four escalators will be available for the benefit of pedestrians and cyclists. Both the tracks for motor traffic, upon emerging from the tunnel beyond the ventilation buildings, will be joined up, after remaining separated for a small distance, by a partition-wall.