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The Silvertown Tunnel has been a long time coming. London’s first sub-Thames road tunnel in 30 years was approved way back in 2018, and began construction in 2021 – but now, officially, it has an opening date.
TfL has confirmed that the Silvertown is set to open to the public in summer 2025. When open, it’ll be 1.4 kilometres long and run between Silvertown (in Newham) and Greenwich. In total, it’ll have cost a whopping £2.2 billion.
And that isn’t all: we’ve also had a few sneak peek pics of what the Silvertown Tunnel currently looks like. Here are a few teasers of the inside of the crossing.
When the tunnel comes into service in a year or so’s time, TfL says that it’ll both reduce pollution and ease congestion. It’ll supposedly relieve pressure on the Blackwall Tunnel, which will introduce a toll next year in order to encourage more drivers to use the Silvertown. The Silvertown will also have a toll costing £3-5 each way (the exact amount hasn’t yet been confirmed).
However, the Silvertown hasn’t been without controversy. Several campaigners, pressure groups and politicians have argued that the new tunnel will instead increase pollution, encouraging more vehicles (specifically HGVs) onto the roads. You can find out more about the controversy on Time Out here.
Time Out and London’s tunnels
From the controversy and the Blackwall’s new toll to the news that a ‘bike bus’ could ferry cyclists through the tunnel, we’ve followed the Silvertown Tunnel’s development closely at Time Out. But did you see that the Rotherhithe Tunnel is also set to close and the Blackwall Tunnel will partially close in March and April?
Listen to Time Out’s brilliant podcast ‘Love Thy Neighbourhood’: the newest episode with Iain Stirling in Shepherd’s Bush is out now.
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