Tunnelling 40 feet beneath the Tyne
THIS must have been hard, tiring and dangerous work.
Our main image, taken 70 years ago, shows two men grafting deep in the bowels of the earth.
As the River Tyne flowed 40 feet above their heads, the workers were busy on the construction of the new dual pedestrian and cycle tunnels.
These would allow people to travel between Howdon on the north bank of the river, and Jarrow on the south.
Back then, in May 1948, the shipyards and factories of the Tyne were still booming, three years after the end of World War II.
And they employed thousands of people, many of whom would use the tunnels every day to get to and from work.
Now, seven decades on, the tunnels are closed for refurbishment - and have been so for five long years.
Work began in May 2013, but the project has been beset with problems.
The tunnels had been due to finally reopen this spring, but the Chronicle reported last month how that date had been put back.
A report to the North East Combined Authority’s transport sub-committee stated: “At this time the anticipated reopening of the tunnels remains late Autumn 2018.”
It was back in 1937 that the idea for three tunnels (two for vehicles, one for pedestrians) between Jarrow and Howdon was first mooted.
Because of World War II and a subsequent post-war spending freeze, the pedestrian and cycle tunnels didn’t open for another 14 years, while the Queen would finally open the first road tunnel in 1967.
For years the dual tunnel – one for pedestrians, one for cyclists – provided a link for thousands of shipyard and factory workers who lived and worked on opposite sides of the river in an era of limited car ownership.
The tunnels - which are today Grade II-listed opened on July 24, 1951, and were Tyneside’s contribution to that year’s nationwide Festival Of Britain celebrations.
At a cost of £833,000, the underground construction included the first purpose-built cycle tunnel in the UK, and was the earliest to be used by both cyclists and pedestrians.
When the tunnels were opened, Tyneside was very different to how it is today. Now, country parks, housing and riverside regeneration schemes front a cleaned-up salmon-rich river, having replaced the shipyards and heavy industry.
Back then, people immediately took to the new tunnels. They were used by more than 20,000 folk every week.
For decades the incredibly steep escalators would take the breath away of first-time tunnel travellers. Indeed, until 1992 they were the longest single-rise escalators in the world, and remained the longest wooden-step escalators.
There was also the novelty of walking or cycling just metres below the river bed.
Inevitably, with the decline of heavy industry on the Tyne, numbers using the tunnels fell over the decades.
Nevertheless, they have remained popular with walkers and cyclists (yours truly among them) and are an important and still useful monument to Tyneside’s former industrial age.
We await the mooted autumn reopening of the tunnels with bated breath.