GREENWICH: Campaign against three-year Blackwall Tunnel closure (From News Shopper)

GREENWICH: Campaign against three-year Blackwall Tunnel closure

3:07pm Friday 5th February 2010 in

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COMMUTERS have labelled the three-year closure southbound of the Blackwall Tunnel a “travesty”.

From this Sunday (Feb 7), the northbound tunnel will be closed five nights a week, Sunday to Thursday, from 9pm to 5am as part of a £70m upgrade by Transport for London (TfL).

It will see new lighting, CCTV and fire detection equipment installed in the tunnel, which carries 50,000 vehicles a day.

Northbound traffic will be diverted through the southbound tunnel during this time under a 20mph speed limit, but the tunnel will be completely closed to southbound vehicles.

This leaves drivers having to travel across one of London’s bridges or through the Rotherhithe or Dartford tunnels.

Plumstead musician Doug Harper says he was only alerted to the plans after spotting a sign by the tunnel last week and has set up a group on Facebook, planning protest meetings to fight the closure.

He said: “It’s an absolute travesty. I set up the group as soon as I heard what was going on - I couldn’t believe it.

“It’s come as a real surprise to a lot of people and a lot still don’t know about it.

“People are telling me they’re going to have to change their jobs because it’s going to put at least £5 extra petrol on everyone’s daily journey.”

His group, called Blackwall Tunnel Protest Group, is calling for a contraflow system to be introduced, allowing people to travel in both directions.

He said: “If Facebook can get Rage Against the Machine to number one, we can get something done about this.

“Three years is a ridiculous amount of time.

“It only took about five years to build the original tunnel.”

The 48-year-old moved to the area from Walthamstow last year and regularly travels through the tunnel He said: “I’ve now realised the rough deal south london is getting.”

A TfL spokesman said northbound traffic had been given priority because there is “significantly more” traffic in that direction.

And he said contraflow had been ruled out as an option in 2008 due to the increased risk of an accident.

But John Rickard, a 37-year-old from Shooter’s Hill Road, who runs the blackwalltunnel.com information website, said drivers still wanted a contraflow system to be introduced.

He said: “Contraflow is what everybody wants.”

“It’s mind-boggling to me - I just don’t understand why they’re doing it.

“It hasn’t been well-publicised and there’s been almost no notification given.”

The spokesman denied that people had not been informed, saying a press release had been issued last month and businesses had been consulted.

TfL chief operating officer for streets Garrett Emmerson said: “We are doing everything we can to ensure the refurbishment of the tunnel is carried out with the minimum disruption to road users, and we ask people to bear with us while these important safety improvements are carried out.”

For information about the works call TfL streets customer services on 0845 305 1234 or email londonstreets@tfl.gov.uk