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New tunnel

The latest stage of the New Tyne Tunnel is underway, which, it is hoped, will see improved traffic controls and business links in the region.

32 sections, weighing 3,400 tonnes each, will be drifted 3km downstream and then sank to the bottom of the riverbed.

A spokesman for the New Tyne Crossing said: “The existing Tyne Tunnel is the only stretch of single carriageway on the A19 between Teeside and South Northumberland.

“It has become a bottleneck deterring businesses from investing and people from seeking jobs across the river.

“The New Tyne Crossing will provide a second vehicle tunnel by 2012 thus removing the bottleneck and providing a stimulus to investment and job creation on Tyne and Wear and the region as a whole.”

The second vehicle tunnel will link East Howdon, in North Tyneside, with Jarrow, in South Tyneside.

The new tunnel will carry southbound traffic on it’s planned 2011 opening, with the existing tunnel refurbished to carry northbound traffic.

A spokesman for TT2, the company overseeing the work, said: “The New Tyne Crossing is a project to design and build a second vehicle tunnel under the River Tyne, refurbish the existing vehicle tunnel and to operate and to maintain all the tunnels under the river until 2037.

“It is one of the biggest infrastructure projects currently active in Great Britain.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .