Tyne Tunnel weekend closures planned until 2025

The northbound Tyne Tunnel is set to close for almost every weekend until March 2025.

The closure will be in force while significant maintenance work is carried out, operator TT2 said.

The southbound tunnel will carry traffic in both directions during the affected weekends.

TT2 chief executive Adrian Wallace said the "essential maintenance" would ensure the tunnels could be used "for many years to come".

The works will begin on 7 June and is scheduled to end on 3 March 2025.

The northbound tunnel will close at 20:00 each Friday and reopen the following Monday at 06:00.

It will remain open during the Great North Run weekend and three weekends across the festive period.

The tunnel was previously closed for a weekend on 3 May for initial work on the project to be carried out.

Referencing the Tyne Bridge's ongoing restoration, Mr Wallace said the weekend closures had been designed to minimise disruption while similar scale work was carried out in the region.

"Weekday customers should not see any impact on travel times but traffic may be heavier than usual when travelling at peak times on Saturdays and Sundays," he said.

The tunnels are owned by the North East Combined Authority but TT2 was appointed in 2007 to manage the toll road for 30 years.

The contract is now half-way through and the company said the maintenance work was needed to support the "readiness of the tunnels to be handed back to the local authorities in 2037".

Follow BBC North East on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].