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Bright future at end of Tyne Tunnel - video report
THE historic launch of the £260m second Tyne Tunnel scheme will spark huge economic and environmental benefits for South Tyneside and the rest of the region, transport bosses said.
Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn yesterday led the groundbreaking ceremony for the New Tyne Crossing Project, hailing the scheme as "a success story for visionary local government."
Representing the biggest civil engineering project under way in the region, the new vehicle tunnel will create hundreds of construction jobs for the local workforce.
Linking Jarrow and East Howdon, the new tunnel will complete the dualling of the A19 between Northumberland and North York-shire and is poised to remove a 41-year traffic bottleneck in Jarrow and East Howdon.
Welcoming the start of tunnel works at the construction site, off Commercial Road, Jarrow, Mr Hepburn said: "This is a great day for the people of Jarrow.
"I see this as a tribute to local government, including the councillors of the old Durham and Northumberland councils in the 1950s, who came together to create the original Tyne Tunnel.
He added: "Most of the steelwork and metalwork will be sourced on Tyneside and this scheme will mean local jobs for local people."
Contractor Bouygues Travaux Publics has spent the last eight months preparing the 3km site in Jarrow for the start of construction.
The new tunnel will be built using mainly traditional cut-and-cover techniques, and will be constructed just downstream of the existing tunnel.
Once the new 2.6km road link is completed in December 2010, the existing tunnel will close for about a year, before both tunnels become fully operational in 2011.
Trevor Jackson, managing director of Tyne Tunnels 2 (TT2), the concessionaire leading the second Tyne Tunnel project, said local people should have "a sense of pride in the scheme".
He added: "This is a the start of bright new future of sustainable growth."
Coun Tom Hanson, a Jarrow member and vice-chairman of Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority, the prime mover behind the scheme, said the new tunnel would remove a "congestion blackspot" and boost air quality on both sides of the tunnel.
Dredging of the Tyne will begin in January, in preparation for the immersion of pre-cast concrete tunnel sections.
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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