Queensway Tunnel

The Queensway Tunnel carries four lanes of traffic under the River Mersey, linking Liverpool city centre with Birkenhead on the Wirral peninsula. At 3.43 kilometres it remains Britain’s longest road tunnel, though it is now often called the ‘old tunnel’ to avoid confusion with the newer Kingsway Tunnel. The route was first proposed in the 1820s, but engineers only began work in 1925 after royal assent was granted. Sir Basil Mott and Liverpool’s City Engineer John Brodie led the project, while Edmund Nuttall served as main contractor. More than a million tonnes of rock and clay were removed, some of which was reused to build Otterspool Promenade along the Liverpool bank. When it opened on 18 July 1934 by King George V, the tunnel was hailed as the eighth wonder of the world and the longest road tunnel anywhere. For fourteen years it held the world record until the Vielha Tunnel in Spain surpassed it in 1948. By the 1960s traffic had grown so heavy that the Kingsway Tunnel opened in 1971 to ease congestion. In 1984 a £1 million lighting upgrade replaced old wall-mounted fittings with overhead tubes, using modified double-decker buses as mobile platforms. Emergency refuges added in 2004 provide fire-resistant shelters with water, toilets and wheelchair access, each holding up to 180 people. Inside, the single carriageway follows gentle curves that set different height limits for each lane. The Birkenhead branch once served the docks but closed in 1965, though its entrance can still be seen on the right before the final bend. The Liverpool branch remains open, emerging beside the Liver Building and Atlantic Tower Hotel. Architect Herbert James Rowse designed the grand Art Deco entrances and ventilation buildings, decorated by Edmund Thompson and now Grade II listed. Modern ceramic steel cladding was added in 2012 to brighten the tunnel’s interior for 21st-century traffic.