Liverpool - Mersey Tunnel c.1930s postcard

Postcard

 

• Picture / Image:  Liverpool, The Mersey Tunnel (the Queensway or 'old' tunnel)- classic view - probably taken not long before or after opening in the 1930s
• Publisher:  Photochrom Co. Ltd.
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes & Key words: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information:

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The Mersey Tunnels connect Liverpool with the Wirral Peninsula, under the River Mersey.

There are three tunnels: the Mersey Railway Tunnel (opened 1886), and two road tunnels, the Queensway Tunnel (opened 1934) and the Kingsway Tunnel (opened 1971). The railway tunnel and Queensway Tunnel connect Liverpool with Birkenhead, while the Kingsway Tunnel runs to Wallasey.

The road tunnels are owned and operated by Merseytravel, and have their own police force, the Mersey Tunnels Police.

In 1967 it was announced that the "Mersey Tunnel Scheme" was now operational^[1]. The scheme comprised what was claimed to be the largest closed circuit television system for traffic control outside North America, and featured a bank of 22 CRT monitors^[1].

Local legend has it that there is also a fourth tunnel created by Benedictine monks which links Speke with Bebington.

The Queensway Tunnel is a road tunnel under the River Mersey, in the north west of England, between Liverpool and Birkenhead. It is often called the Birkenhead Tunnel to specify that it serves Birkenhead as opposed to the Kingsway Tunnel, an alternative tunnel crossing the Mersey, which serves Wallasey.

The first tunnel under the River Mersey was for the Mersey Railway in 1886. The possibility of a Mersey road crossing was first discussed in the 1890s. During the 1920s there were concerns about the long queues of cars and lorries at the Mersey Ferry terminal so once Royal Assent to a Parliamentary bill was received construction of the first Mersey Road Tunnel started in 1925 to a design by consulting engineer Sir Basil Mott. Mott supervised the construction in association with John Brodie, who, as City Engineer of Liverpool, had co-ordinated the feasibility studies made by consultant Engineers Mott, Hay and Anderson. The main contractor was Edmund Nuttall.^[1] In 1928 the two pilot tunnels met to within less than an inch (25 mm).

The tunnel entrances, toll booths and ventilation building exteriors were designed by architect Herbert James Rowse, who is frequently but incorrectly credited with the whole civil engineering project. These are Grade II listed buildings. More than 1,200,000 tons of rock, gravel and clay was excavated; some of this material was used to build Otterspool Promenade. In the nine years that it took to build the Queensway Tunnel, 1,700 men worked on the project, of whom 17 were killed.

The tunnel, which cost a total of £8,000,000, was opened on July 18, 1934 by King George V in honour of his consort Queen Mary, after whom the tunnel is named. Two hundred thousand people watched the royal couple conduct the opening ceremony at Old Haymarket entrance in Liverpool.^{[citation needed]}

By the 1960s traffic volume had increased. In 1971 the Kingsway Tunnel opened to relieve congestion.

The tunnel is 3240m (2 miles) long. It contains a single carriageway of four lanes, two in each direction. Different height restrictions apply to the nearside and offside lanes in each direction, due to the curvature of the tunnel. All buses are required to use the offside lane, regardless of their height.

Lane signals (consisting of an illuminated green arrow or red cross) are displayed at regular intervals, although under normal circumstances none of the lanes are currently used bidirectionally. This is in contrast to the Kingsway Tunnel, where three out of four lanes operate in one direction during peak hours.

The tunnel has two branches leading off the main tunnel to the dock areas on both sides of the river. The Birkenhead branch tunnel (known as the Rendel St. branch) is disused. It was closed in 1965. The Liverpool branch tunnel remains in use, in the exit direction only. It emerges opposite the Liver Building, next to the Atlantic Tower Hotel & Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas. Originally it carried two-way traffic, and the junction inside the tunnel was controlled by traffic lights, but this arrangement was discontinued to reduce the delays brought on by increasing traffic levels.