Rotherhithe Road Tunnel 2008
Celebrating a Centenary

The Rotherhithe Road Tunnel carries the A101 from the A200, Lower Road in the south to Branch Road in the north. It provides a single 2-lane carriageway with a footpath on each side. The primary construction is a 30ft diameter cast-iron lining formed from bolted segments. There is a sub-tunnel under the roadway and 4 ventilation shafts (1 & 2 south side, 3 & 4 north side).The cast-iron section is finished in glazed tiles on a concrete backing, laid in a bonded pattern.

The pattern is retained in the cut and cover section, but the tiles are replaced with glazed bricks.The tunnel was designed to suit the early 20th century transport, a mixture of mainly horse drawn vehicles and early motorcars. Consequently the original design did not allow for any forced ventilation, although space was allowed for its later introduction. Soon after it opened, 2,600 vehicles a day were using it and by 1955, usage had quadrupled to 10,500 vehicles a day.

Rotherhithe entrance 2006 (Wikipedia)

Rotherhithe entrance 1925 (Wikipedia)

 Mechanical ventilation was introduced in the 1930’s to vents 1 and 4 and enhanced in 1982 and replaced in 2001. The original lighting was mounted over each footway on the shoulders of the bore and the sites of the lamps can still be seen high up on the walls. These were replaced in 1982 with a central lighting arrangement. The tunnel is closed every Monday night for routine inspection and maintenance including testing emergency equipment, changing lighting units, cleaning the tunnel lining, replacing loose, damaged and discoloured tiles, sweeping the carriageway and footways, structural inspections and emergency repairs.

Its proximity to the river makes it vulnerable to flooding which happened in 1928. In 1939 as part of the Air Raid Precautions, a floodgate was erected in Shaft 1 in Brunel Road. The installation included the provision of a crash and floodwall in the sub-tunnel beneath the gate. The floodgate is intended to protect the East London Railway and low lying area south of the tunnel from the effects from flooding, should the tunnel be breached.

Men excavating the Rotherhithe Tunnel 1907 (London Metropolitan Archives L18455 (82/01292))

The Rotherhithe tunnel was authorised by the Thames Tunnel (Rotherhithe and Ratcliff) Act of 1900, and built on behalf of London County Council following much local opposition as 3,000 local residents were displaced by the work. It was designed by Sir Maurice Fitzemaurice, engineer to the London County Council, to serve foot and horse-drawn traffic passing between the docks on either side of the river. The roadways are therefore narrow (8 feet (2.4 m) wide), there are footways on each side, there is a maximum gradient of 1 in 36, to cater for non-mechanised traffic and there are right-angled bends at the points where the tunnel goes under the river bed to both avoid the local docks on each side of the river, and prevent horses from seeing daylight and bolting for the exit.

The tunnel was built between 1904 and 1908 by Price and Reeves under the direction of resident engineer Edward H. Tabor using both cut and cover (at the entrances) and tunneling shield excavation. It cost £1m and a plaque over the tunnel entrances shows it was opened on June 12, 1908 by by George, Prince of Wales (later King George V), and Richard Robinson, Chairman of the London County Council. The single bore two lane tunnel is 4,860 feet (1,481 m) long, is 48 feet (14.5 m) below the high-water level of the Thames to allow for the passage of large ships. Four shafts were sunk for access and ventilation, two of which (2 and 3) were fitted with spiral staircases for pedestrian access, closed following war damage, now repaired but not yet reopened.

Sources:
encyclopedia http://www.wikipedia.org
Port cities www.portcities.org.uk
Transport for London (TfL) www.tfl.gov.uk
Tyco Traffic & Transportation www.tycotraffic.commodern sailing ships.