The Silvertown Tunnel got off to a quiet start on Monday morning with no rush-hour queues – but Transport for London has admitted to teething troubles with new bus services after passengers found themselves on a detour though a council depot.
Traffic started using the £2 billion tunnel – which runs between the Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks – in the small hours of the morning. Both it and the adjacent Blackwall Tunnel are now tolled between 6am and 10pm daily.
With TfL choosing the first Monday of the Easter school holidays, drivers enjoyed a smooth ride, save for a little bunching at the point where the new tunnel diverges from the Blackwall Tunnel approach. The new crossing’s real test will come later in the month when traffic conditions return to normal.
There was also a visible police presence at junctions along routes to the new tunnel, in case of protests from environmental campaigners or those angry at the tolls, the first on Blackwall since it opened in 1897.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has championed the crossing since inheriting the project – and its tolls – from his predecessor, Boris Johnson. He has vowed that the tunnel will “virtually eliminate” the notorious congestion at the northbound Blackwall Tunnel, which has been blighted by queues for decades.
But opponents have warned that despite both the Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnels being tolled, the availability of a new road crossing will simply bring more traffic onto the roads on both sides of the river, increasing congestion more generally. The decision to toll both tunnels – ending 128 years of the older crossing being free to use – has also enraged some drivers.
Critics of the tunnel gathered at City Hall after the morning rush hour was over to hand in a letter to Khan calling for the new crossing to be repurposed for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport, while the Greens at City Hall called on Khan to invest in new crossings “for people rather than traffic”.
- Tunnel tolls: Car and small van drivers will pay £1.50 at off-peak times, and £4 during peak hours – applying northbound between 6am and 10am and southbound between 4pm and 7pm.
- Other users: Motorbike riders will pay £1.50 at off-peak times or £2.50 in peak times; large van drivers will pay £2.50 or £6.50; while HGVs will be charged £5 or £10.
- Some discounts are available for low-income residents and small businesses.
- How to pay: Sign up to TfL AutoPay to get off-peak rates and pay as you travel.
- New buses: 129 (Lewisham to North Greenwich) now runs through the tunnel to London City Airport, Beckton and Great Eastern Quay. New SL4 runs from Grove Park, Lee and Blackheath, then non-stop through the tunnel to Leamouth and Canary Wharf. Travel on Silvertown Tunnel routes is free for at least the first year (tap your Oyster/contactless). This also applies to the entire 108 route and DLR services between Cutty Sark-Island Gardens and King George V-Woolwich Arsenal.
- Cycle shuttle: A free cycle shuttle bus runs from 6.30am to 9.30pm from outside St Mary Magdalene School on Millennium Way, Greenwich to Seagull Lane near City Hall.
- North Greenwich bus station changes: Some routes have moved stops at North Greenwich to accommodate the northbound 129.
New Superloop gets lost on its first day
The Greenwich Wire spent the morning monitoring how the new tunnel was working. Traffic appeared to flow well on the A102 during the morning rush hour, but the number of vehicles using the new crossing fell to a trickle later in the day. For the first time, new signs along the approach encourage drivers to choose their lane well in advance of reaching the tunnels.
But the flagship Superloop bus route, the SL4 from Grove Park to Canary Wharf, through the tunnel was running less smoothly. At 6am, when the service should have been running every 10 minutes, passengers had to wait about 25 minutes for a bus at the Sun-in-the-Sands roundabout at Blackheath, the last stop south of the river before a fast section through the tunnel to Leamouth, where the bus serves two large new housing developments.
The complicated route north of the river – particularly the out-and-back to serve Leamouth – appeared to be giving drivers problems, with one being chaperoned by a colleague telling him which lanes to take.
On a later journey at around 8am, one driver who did not have the benefit of an instructor missed his turning to Leamouth completely and ended up at the entrance to a Tower Hamlets Council depot. Quick-thinking staff saved the driver’s blushes by allowing him to drive gingerly through the yard and back onto his route.
The unfortunate driver then missed two more turnings and ended up in a traffic jam on Aspen Way, the dual carriageway that runs past Canary Wharf. When he finally got on the right route, his way was then impeded by utility workers who had blocked Blackwall Way, close to East India station. Finally, the bus got stuck in a queue of traffic lining up to pass the Canary Wharf security cordon.
SL4 journeys also seemed to be delayed later in the morning, while both it and the other service through the tunnel – the 129, which has been extended via London City Airport and Beckton to Great Eastern Quay – were both busy with bus enthusiasts, curious locals, and in the 129’s case, visitors heading to the airport.
Asked about the issues with the SL4 and how the tunnel’s first morning had gone, TfL told The Greenwich Wire: “Aside from some local traffic delays and a couple of teething issues that we’re addressing, all’s running well.”
‘Build a new crossing for active travel’
Some of the protesters outside City Hall had used the cycle shuttle bus, which starts and stops close to the London mayor’s office – saying there were more TfL staff than real passengers.
Yvonne Brouwers, who is from the Netherlands, said that the construction of a vehicle-only tunnel showed that policymakers in London “hate pedestrians and they hate cyclists”.
“They should have one lane for cyclists, 24 hours a day,” she said, pointing out that the shuttle ends at 9.30pm.
The bus is in place for a year, but Green London Assembly member Caroline Russell said it should run until City Hall builds a new active travel crossing.
“Until the mayor has made a new crossing that is suitable for people to walk and cycle across the river east of Tower Bridge, he’s got to keep the cycle bus going,” she said.
“He’s got to make it more accessible for people. I had to fold my Brompton this morning to lift it up and put it into a rack. I can’t do that – I’ve got a bad back. So that’s not accessible.
“So they’ve got to make that bike bus more accessible and they’ve got to keep it going until they produce a proper crossing.”
Russell said fixing lifts and escalators at the Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels, and at Cutty Sark DLR station, would come at “a fraction of the cost of building this new road tunnel”.
She said she was getting more casework about the foot tunnel lifts, which are run by Greenwich Council. Lift repairs at Woolwich have been delayed while funding is arranged with neighbouring Newham Council, which part-owns the tunnel.
“They’re constantly going out of service and it’s not okay if you want to go through with a bike and you can’t carry your bike up all those stairs,” she said. “It’s just completely unacceptable. It leaves people walking and cycling as second class citizens, when actually the people walking and cycling are the ones who are helping the mayor meet his target for 80 per cent of trips to be made by walking, cycling and public transport.”
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