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The Blackwall Tunnel in east London has finally reopened after a van caught fire yesterday, forcing the route to close.
Drivers were forced to abandon their cars and evacuate the tunnel, which links Tower Hamlets to Greenwich and part of the A102 road, during the incident at around midday.
But now Transport for London (TfL) has reopened the main Thames crossing this morning after almost 12 hours of work throughout the afternoon to repair the road.
Huge traffic jams were reported on the A102 Greenwich to Poplar Road and Woolwich Road flyovers, one of the few junctions in east London, during yesterday’s lengthy closure.
A video shared on social media shows motorists fleeing their cars and one woman can be heard saying: ‘It was so scary. I was running with my baby.’
Drivers were forced to abandon their cars and evacuate the tunnel en masse after yesterday’s fire
Huge traffic jams were seen yesterday in the Greenwich tunnel system, south-east of London.
A police vehicle blocked the entrance to the tunnel yesterday in front of a large traffic queue at the access to the A102M Blackwall tunnel in Greenwich.
Cars queued on the A102M near the Blackwall Tunnel after a van caught fire yesterday
The van driver managed to escape the vehicle before firefighters arrived and no injuries were reported.
Around 100,000 drivers use the Blackwall Tunnel every day and severe delays will affect Greenwich and the surrounding area throughout Wednesday.
One social media user said yesterday: ‘I’ve never seen traffic this heavy. The station area around Greenwich is completely blocked off. Chaos.’
In a TfL planning document for the East London River Crossing, it said there were a number of challenges with the tunnel.
Problems include a northbound tunnel that was built in 1897 and has a maximum height of 4m and a southbound tunnel that was completed in 1967 has a clearance of 4.7m, the planning director general wrote.
The tunnel also operates at 99 percent capacity during peak hours, which planners admit “causes regular congestion.”
They also point out that there is a “lack of resilience”, meaning that when an incident occurs there is no viable alternative route, which increases traffic congestion.
The tunnel is operating at 99 percent capacity towards the top, which planners admit “causes regular congestion.”
The Blackwall Tunnel construction workers fully opened the tunnel in 1897. At the time it was the longest underwater tunnel in the world.
A map showing the Blackwall Tunnel and Silvertown Tunnel under construction due to open in 2025. The map also shows the ULEZ zone and its extension which was completed on 29 August.
A London Ambulance Service spokesman said yesterday: “We were called at 12.18pm on Wednesday 28 August to reports of an incident in Tunnel Approach, SE10.
‘We rushed to the scene to assist our emergency service partners. At the scene the patient refused all treatment and we were taken away.’
The spokesman added that members of the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) attended the fire.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: “Firefighters responded to reports of a van on fire in the Blackwall Tunnel in Greenwich.
A van was burned in the fire. A man abandoned the vehicle before the brigade arrived. No injuries were reported.”
The Blackwall Tunnel is one of the few crossings in the area, with only Dartford Crossing and Woolwich Ferry further east.
Due to continued congestion at the Blackwall Tunnel, a new £2bn tunnel to the east of London at Silvertown is due to be completed in 2025.
It will be a four-lane tunnel running for 1.5 miles and connecting North Greenwich to the Royal Docks.
It was first proposed in 2005 during the tenure of former mayor Ken Livingstone, but was also backed by Conservative mayor Boris Johnson.
The Mayor of London previously confirmed in an interview that “the intention is to have tolls for both the Silvertown Tunnel and the Blackwall Tunnel” to encourage an equal split of traffic between the two.
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