£120m Tyne Tunnel Two plans unveiled

The Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority has unveiled a new blueprint for Tyne Tunnel Two, which will open in 2006 at the earliest.

It reveals that the £120 million design will definitely be two lanes rather than four because of cost.

The Highways Agency is being pressed to re-align five approach roundabouts from Seaton Burn, North Tyneside, to Testo's roundabout in Boldon, South Tyneside, to ensure free-flowing traffic.

And a tight lid will be kept on toll costs, despite a private consortium operating the Tunnel.

The tunnel, which will be an immersed tube design, needs to be four metres deeper than originally planned.

Tunnel chiefs have also been forced to return to the drawing board to work their way around an EU ruling to prevent VAT being levied on the new tunnel.

Councillor Muriel Green, vice chairwoman of the PTA, said:"The rush hour delays drivers suffer now are intolerable. We want this route to be a link the region can be proud of."

A new tunnel would cater for southbound traffic while the existing tunnel will carry northbound.

The present tunnel was designed to cater for 24,000 vehicles a day when it opened in l967 but now carries more than 37,000 daily.

The scheme goes before planning chiefs next week. Unique bridge is blinking great The public can now see why a £22 million bridge over the River Tyne is dubbed the "blinking eye."

Engineers have started tests on the hydraulic systems of the spectacular Gateshead Millenium Bridge and it is open to 80% of its maximum.

It will be another fortnight before the eye-catching cycle and pedestrian bridge will open to its maximum but passers-by still found it breathtaking.

Craig Matthews, 19, a student at Northumbria University, from London, said:"You can see why they called it the blinking eye. I wasn't sure before quite how it worked but it does look like an eye opening and shutting.

"If anything it makes the Tyne look as spectacular as the Thames."

Powerful electric motors and hydraulic rams lift and rotate the 850-tonne bridge so that ships can pass underneath. It is the only bridge of its kind in the world and is set to become as famous a landmark as the Tyne Bridge itself.

Councillor George Gill, leader of Gateshead Council, said:"We are opening it that extra little bit each time, but I have no worries about it working. I know that when engineers build something in this part of the world they make sure it works properly.

"With most projects like this the architectural drawings can often look better than the finished product, but in this case the drawings did not do the bridge justice.

"It is a magnificent site and is set to become a world famous landmark. It makes me very proud."

The bridge is made from enough steel to make 64 double-decker buses or 16 Chieftan tanks - but you only see half the job. It sits on 19,000 tonnes of concrete, enough to make 600,000 paving stones, stretching 180 miles, plus 650 tonnes of steel reinforcement.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

Answers

If anything it makes the Tyne look as spectacular as the Thames" .... it bloody better not

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

Councillor George Gill, leader of Gateshead Council, said:"We are opening it that extra little bit each time, but I have no worries about it working. I know that when engineers build something in this part of the world they make sure it works properly.

Slight dig at the wobbly bridge on the Thames then!! Good on him!

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

Saw the MB wide open yesterday - it is an awesome sight: a wonderful piece of architecture/engineering.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

Macca - I think he forgot to add "...but without the spivs" :-)

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

Bliddy Hell. Yet another way for the Makems to seep north. I hope they have good quarantine facilities for the inbreds and a fast-path, no-stop route south until you hit the A1(M) so the Geordies can get to away matches easily.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

Kids that new bridge is truly awesome. Have a look at the photos on the Gateshead Council website.

http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/welcome2.htm

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

Wow! I was wondering how they'd move it to allow ships through....now I know! Amazing.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001

That's a good point Screacher.

I have the solution though. If cathedral-less Sunderland is somehow a city, then surely we can go one better and become an independent country, and simply not allow any Mackems in.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2001