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The Blackwall Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels underneath the River Thames in east London, linking the London Borough of Tower Hamlets with the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is part of the A102 road.
The tunnel was originally opened as a single bore in 1897 by the then Prince of Wales, as a major transport project to improve commerce and trade in London's East End. By the 1930s, capacity was becoming inadequate, and a second bore opened in 1967, handling southbound traffic while the earlier 19th century tunnel handled northbound.
The tunnel is a key link for both local and longer-distance traffic between the north and south sides of the river. It is the easternmost free fixed road crossing of the Thames, and regularly suffers congestion, to the extent that tidal flow schemes were in place from 1978 until controversially removed in 2007. Proposals to solve the traffic problems have included building a third bore, constructing alternative crossings of the Thames such as the now cancelled Thames Gateway Bridge or the Silvertown Tunnel, and providing better traffic management, particularly for heavy goods vehicles. (Full article...)
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Selected biography
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Henry Charles Beck (4 June 1902 – 18 September 1974), known as Harry Beck, was an English technical draughtsman best known for creating the present London Underground Tube map in 1931. Beck drew up the diagram in his spare time while working as an engineering draftsman at the London Underground Signals Office. London Underground was initially sceptical of Beck's radical proposal, an uncommissioned spare-time project, but tentatively introduced it to the public in a small pamphlet in 1933.
Beck's approach to the map was to remove all geographical content except the River Thames so that the focus could be on the arrangement of lines and stations and to enable the central area to be expanded map. Beck first submitted his idea to Frank Pick in 1931 but it was considered too radical because it didn't show relative distances between stations. After a successful trial of 500 copies in 1932, distributed via a select few stations, the map was given its first full publication in 1933 (700,000 copies). It was immediately popular, and the Underground has used topological maps to illustrate the network ever since.
Beck's contribution to the visual style of London Underground is recognised with a plaque at what was his local Underground station, Finchley Central; with a blue plaque at his birth place in Leyton and the Beck Gallery at the London Transport Museum. (Full article...)
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Did you know...
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- ...that Sir Jacob Epstein's statute Day on the Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway caused controversy when it was unveiled due to the length of the penis on one of the figures? Epstein later reduced the length.
- ...that an estimated half a million mice live on the Underground system, and can often be seen running around the tracks?
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Image 1The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
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Image 4Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
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Image 5A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
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Image 6The newly constructed junction of the Westway ( A40) and the West Cross Route ( A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
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Image 9"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
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Image 10Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
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Image 12Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
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Image 14Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
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Image 15London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
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Image 16Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
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Image 17Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
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Image 18London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
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Image 19Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
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Image 22Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
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Image 2355 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
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Image 24London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
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Image 25The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
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Image 26Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
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Image 27Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
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Image 28Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
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Image 30Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
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Image 31The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
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Image 32The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
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Image 33Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
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Image 34View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
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Image 35Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
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Image 36Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
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Image 37Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
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Image 38TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
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Image 39The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
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Image 41The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
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Image 42Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
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Image 43Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
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Image 45Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
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Image 46Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
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Image 47Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
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Image 48Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
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