Tunnel vision comes to fruition
THIS week saw the 55th anniversary of the official opening of the Tyne Tunnel by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
It was October 19, 1967, and the new tunnel represented a triumph of engineering and infrastructure, allowing traffic to cross under the River Tyne, providing a vital link between North Yorkshire and Northumberland.
Today of course there are two traffic tunnels, with the original catering for northbound vehicles, and a second southbound tunnel opening in 2011. The nearby pedestrian and cycle tunnel – also linking North Shields and Jarrow – opened in 1951.
Back in 1967, the ceremony on the North Shields side lasted two and a half hours. Dignitaries included the
Duchess of Northumberland, the Mayor and Mayoress of Newcastle, the Bishop of Newcastle, and local politicians. Once the Queen had declared the tunnel open, there followed a 21-gun royal salute, fired by a battery of the Royal Artillery Volunteers.
She then travelled through the tunnel to Jarrow to greet the public waiting at the other side of the river. Residents, and groups such as the sea cadets, boy scouts, girl guides and boys’ brigade, as well as the Durham Light Infantry, turned out to join in the celebrations.
The tunnel was 1,650m (1,804yd) long and sat more than 30m (98ft) below the river. The concept of a crossing underneath the Tyne was first dreamed up in the 1920s by engineer FW Chalmes. He planned a tunnel that would accommodate an electric monorail, with a wider tunnel to allow cars and buses to travel by train. The outbreak of World War
Two put plans for any project of this nature on the backburner.
As well as being joined by a second tunnel, the first one has undergone significant modernisation over time, and is fitted with safety equipment to ensure it can run all day, every day.
Lined in cast iron, it has a drainage system, fire safety equipment, ventilation, and cameras to monitor the traffic. Today the tunnels are operated by TT2 Limited.
Our selection of photographs from the Sunday Sun archive take us back to the early days of the first tunnel in the 1960s – its construction and the official opening.
It was a time long before it was fully automated and number plate recognition was introduced so you could pay without stopping your vehicle – a time when there were staffed toll booths and it cost just 2s 6d (around 12p in today’s money) to cross.