Blackwall Tunnel - Maintenance and Refurbishment

Maintenance and Refurbishment

A major refurbishment of the northbound tunnel is ongoing, and the levels of reactive maintenance are now considered to compromise the working of the tunnel. Fire detection systems will be installed in response to new European regulations in the light of recent tunnel fires. Overnight closures of the northbound tunnel between 21:00 and 05:00 Sunday to Friday are due to finish in December 2012 though work is currently a year ahead of schedule. During the closures, northbound traffic will be diverted through the southbound tunnel while southbound traffic will have to use an alternative crossing.

The Blackwall tunnel is affected by closures overnight on weekdays and over a number of whole weekends during 2010, to the detriment of road users and local residents in North Greenwich, Poplar and beyond. There is also the problem of daily breakdowns and accidents, which, usually without warning, force the closure of the tunnel for sometimes over an hour, while the recovery vehicle slowly reverses from the front of the tunnel until it reaches the affected vehicle (as there is no space to make a U-turn inside the tunnel). The rate of accidents / breakdowns in the tunnel got so bad that in 2010 an LED noticeboard was set up in the northbound approach, counting the number of breakdowns and accidents per month occurring inside the tunnel. The average figures per month are approximately 35 breakdowns and 18 accidents. On each occasion the tunnel was shut for at least an hour, causing considerable traffic tailbacks. The continual congestion and requirements for closures and refurbishments is unlikely to change, as the Blackwall Tunnel will remain the only major road crossing of the Thames in east London for the foreseeable future. The proposed Thames Gateway Bridge linking Thamesmead and Beckton was cancelled by Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) in 2008.