First look inside £2.2bn Silvertown Tunnel

For the first time, Transport for London has invited journalists inside what is one of the most controversial infrastructure projects in the capital.

The Silvertown Tunnel is 1.4km (just under one mile) long and stretches from Silvertown in Newham to the Greenwich Peninsula.

Inside the tunnel, it is extremely wide. A lot bigger than other tunnels like the supersewer or Crossrail. Boring was finished a few weeks ago.

Transport for London (TfL) says the scheme will address queues at the Blackwall Tunnel and reduce pollution. But it has faced fierce opposition from those who think it will do the total opposite and increase pollution and congestion.

And the big question is - even with mitigation - can a road tunnel ever be green?

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan reviewed the scheme when he came into office. He says it will be a vital link across the Thames to East London.

Mr Khan gave the tunnel the go-ahead, funded with a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) against future earnings. The cost was £2.2bn.

He increased the number of bus services that will use it. There will also be a bus to allow carry cyclists and their bikes across. It is also within the Ulez zone.

Crucially, Tfl says it will use tolls from next summer to control the amount of traffic that use both the Blackwall and the new Silvertown tunnels.

The cost hasn't been revealed but it could be between £3 and £5 to drive in a car through the tunnel each way.

The tunnel will have a bus lane but large HGVs will also be able to use the lane.

At the moment HGVs can't use the northbound Blackwall Tunnel due to height restrictions.

Campaigners say it will just attract more HGVs to the area and around 20,000 extra vehicles a day will use the tunnel.

Karin Tearle is from the Stop Silvertown Tunnel campaign group.

She said the number of buses have been cut: "Transport for London told us this was going to be a public transport focussed tunnel and they promised 37.5 buses an hour, which have now been reduced to 20 buses an hour.

"In fact six of those will be existing services so it's only 14 extra buses.

"We have asked Transport for London and the mayor if they will supply the pollution figures for what 20,000 to 30,000 extra vehicles will do for the area and they have refused to do that.

"I think it's political, I think the Mayor of London doesn't want to tell us that his biggest infrastructure project by far goes against his own social justice, climate and clean air policies."

Sheila Keble is a member of the Greenwich Society.

She thinks many more HGVs will now use the new tunnel: "Larger HGVs can't use the old Blackwall Tunnel so at the moment we are slightly protected.

"They have to go to Dartford or the Woolwich ferry but the new tunnel gives access to the largest size of HGV.

"And until we know something about the tolling regime and whether it will be the same as Dartford or whether it will be more expensive than Dartford, I don't think we can have any confidence that we won't be deluged with lorries.

"Looking at the planning applications that we have had in this area.

"We have distribution centres spring up all around so obviously the people who like the lorries are going to be very well placed now to have a proper north south connection across the river."

Neil Robertson is from Greenwich Cyclists says HGVs will use the tunnel as it is designed for them.

He said: "HGVs will be coming down here especially when there are problems up at Dartford it will be the alternative route.

"The A2 is completely full every evening so the traffic coming out of the tunnel going up there is at crawling speed every evening all the way to the M25 - that can only get worse when you add lorries into the mix."

He is particularly scathing of the bike bus: "It's absolutely ludicrous. It's misdirection to pretend they're doing something.

"The idea that a cyclist will put their bike onto the bus, then get onto the bus to sit in the traffic. Ludicrous."

TfL's director for investment planning, David Rowe, says a key target is to reduce overall pollution and they will do that through tolls.

"A fundamental objective around the Silvertown Tunnel is addressing the problems we have at Blackwall," he said.

"At the moment are sitting in traffic for 20 minutes in park periods trying to queue to get across the river as it's the only strategic crossing.

"So if Blackwall goes down and we have to shut it 700 times a year, there's a significant spread of traffic and that obviously leads to worse air quality conditions.

"With the Silvertown tunnel in place, we get rid of the queueing, we solve the air quality problems.

"Our assessments have shown there's an overall improvement in air quality and we are committed to delivering that."

He says the toll will stop an increase in traffic.

"Importantly a key part of the scheme is the introduction of new cross river bus services and they offer a viable alternative for those wanting to cross the river.

"It won't lead to more traffic as the user charge which is also part of it will ensure that we don't attract any more traffic into London."

Campaigners think the Silvertown will play a crucial part in the mayoral election.

They think the mayor should tell Londoners how much the tolls are going to be when the scheme opens next summer.

And while the mayor says more bus services and tolls will lessen the impact, opponents say there is no such thing as a green road tunnel.

Also, it isn't widely known that the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels will be tolled from 2025. That in itself is also bound to cause anger.

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