Campaigners against the Silvertown tunnel have said the start of tunnelling on the project is not the end of their attempts to stop what they called a new urban motorway.
Transport for London (TfL) and the consortium building the ‘new public-transport focused’ river crossing have confirmed that tunnelling, which was due to start in the spring or summer, is now underway.
The 1.4km tunnel, which TfL said will open in 2025, will link Newham to the Greenwich Peninsula. Green Party London Assembly member Sian Berry said: ‘Make no mistake, the Silvertown Road Tunnel project as it currently stands is a vast new road building project that will increase car dependency, and risk new traffic and pollution for Londoners across the east of our city.
‘The start of tunnelling does not end the campaign to stop this project from causing huge damage to Londoners’ health. A new tunnel could provide a new river crossing for walking, cycling and public transport links, and we are already working with local people to put better ideas to the mayor. He should start to listen to us.’
Helen Wright, head of the Silvertown Tunnel programme at TfL, said: ‘As well as reducing congestion and providing better cross-river bus opportunities, the new tunnel will also help deliver a wide range of local improvements, including dedicated walking and cycling infrastructure and new landscaping.’
As Transport Network has reported, cash-strapped TfL has dropped a longstanding pledge to run 37 cross-river buses in East London after opening the tunnel. It also appears to have dropped claims that the scheme will not increase traffic and carbon, which were contradicted by its own modelling.
The project is being delivered by the Riverlinx consortium, which is made up of abrdn, Invesis, Cintra, Macquarie Capital and SK ecoplant, through a design, build, finance, operate and maintain contract.
TfL said ‘the vast majority’ of the funding is coming from private finance, which has been specifically raised for the scheme.
It added that since construction work on the project began in 2020, a huge amount of work has been delivered to prepare for the start of tunnelling, including the delivery of the launch chamber for the 82 metre-long tunnel boring machine (TBM) and repairs to the river wall made to ensure it is not affected while tunnelling takes place.
Aside from a small section around the tunnel entrances, which will be built using a ‘cut and cover’ technique, the tunnel’s two bores are being built using one TBM, which has a cutter face of 11.91m and was assembled within the launch chamber.
The TBM is expected to progress under the river at around 10 metres every day. Once the first tunnel is completed, it will be turned around to head back to Newham and complete the second tunnel.
Riverlinx is also set to begin work to realign the road network on both sides of the river to link in with the new tunnel.
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