Silvertown tunnel: London’s flashy new river crossing leaves a lot to be desired

London’s first new road across the Thames in more than 60 years will open to motorists today. The Silvertown tunnel (between Greenwich and Silvertown) aims to fix a problem centuries in the making: poor cross-river connectivity in east London.

So what? Many Londoners will never use it. Pedestrians will be banned and cyclists will have to hop into a shuttle bus, leaving a £2.2 billion toll road solely for vehicles. The Thames river crossing epitomises the UK’s infrastructure problem, which is also expressed by

• Hammersmith Bridge, which remains off-limits for vehicles due to damage to the 1880s structure. Fixing it could take a decade and demolition has been considered;
• Albert Bridge, which uses cameras and fines to enforce width and weight restrictions so as not to suffer the same fate as Hammersmith; and
• the Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels, which are both more than 100 years old, unsuitable for cyclists, frequently face maintenance issues and remain the only safe, free passenger crossings of the Thames east of Tower Bridge.

A restrictive planning system across the UK means big projects are hard to build and take too long to come to fruition. The epitome of this is the Lower Thames Crossing, two road tunnels in the Thames Estuary between Essex and Kent. The project was first announced in 2009, but it was only approved last month. More than a billion pounds has already been spent before construction work has even begun. It’s the longest planning application in UK history.

The Silvertown tunnel is far from revolutionary, but it is an impressive piece of engineering, and will make a difference by

• taking pressure off the Blackwall tunnel, which is height-restricted in one direction and a major source of traffic and air pollution in the area;
• raising revenue through tolls, which will be introduced on the Blackwall tunnel at the same time, but discounted for some local residents and businesses; and
• allowing more buses to cross the river, including expanding Transport for London’s (TfL) Superloop network. Some buses will be free for the first year of the tunnel’s operation.

If you build it, they will come. The Silvertown tunnel is needed to boost road capacity, but the tolls themselves have sparked concern up river. Tower Bridge’s maintenance teams fear more lorries will use the iconic landmark as tolls are introduced farther east.

The Thames creates a physical divide between north and south London, meaning many residents on one side of the river rarely head to the other. But from east to west, there is a financial divide too: house price data shows the disparity between the east London riverside (where there are few crossings) and the west London riverside (where bridges are ten a penny).

East end buoys. No matter how you cut it, there is a dearth of pedestrian and cyclist crossings east of Tower Bridge. The problem is the farther east you go

• the bigger the river becomes;
• the less valuable the riverside;
• the more industrial the landscape;
• the more river traffic there is; so
• the more money needs spending on materials.

That’s a hard case to make to investors – public or private.

London’s stalling. Case in point: in 2019 plans for a 180-metre bridge between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf were scrapped when estimated costs ballooned to £600 million. TfL had already spent £19 million during planning, but now it’s investing in an electric ferry instead.

Up the junction. Meanwhile, there is overcrowding at the nearby Canada Water underground station – the only interchange between the river-spanning Jubilee and Windrush lines.

The good news? There is a pedestrian crossing that roughly follows the route of the Silvertown tunnel.

The bad news? It’s the London cable car, which attracts very few passengers, doesn’t run 24/7, and costs £7 to ride each way.

What’s more… A 450-metre pedestrian and bicycle bridge opened over the Vistula in Warsaw to great fanfare last year. It’s not perfect, but at least it’s there. The kicker? It only cost around €35 million to build.

Photo credit: John Zammit