Silvertown tunnel road network looking complete in advance of opening

Tarmac is now down and the entirety of a ne road network is in place in advance of the Silvertown tunnel opening next year.

Photos taken from the Cable Car show asphalt in place on roads leading from the tunnel to a newly enlarged roundabout.

Also now evident is a new car park for the tunnel’s operation centre as well as a road running parallel with DLR tracks between West Silvertown and Canning Town.

It’s a lot of new tarmac and land-take across the area.

One day – perhaps – a new DLR station named Thames Wharf is proposed here. Mind you it’s been on the cards for thirty years now.

In 2023 it was stated: “At present TfL does not have funding to progress Thames Wharf station beyond this current stage of development.”

Land taken for the tunnel and new roads limits housing potential to the north of the proposed station, though residential blocks are planned to the south.

Again, plans have been around for many years (see this post from me five years ago) but nothing has happened. Deadlines for a new DLR station have come and gone.

Lower Lea Crossing

Most traffic using the new tunnel is expected use the Lower Lea Crossing and the zoomed image below shows the road layout at Tidal Basin junction.

Traffic towards the tunnel will cut across the roundabout though traffic arriving doesn’t. There’s a lot of traffic signals across the roundabout.

Note also no bus lane can be seen. For all the PR about buses just two routes will use the tunnel and the bus/HGV lane ends at the tunnel mouth.

Bus routes

One new bus route through the tunnel is an extended 129 which currently terminates at North Greenwich. It will head to Beckton. I can’t see that being very popular from south of the river given how little it serves when it comes to areas of employment and leisure across the Thames.

The other new route (formerly the X239 and now part of the Superloop named route SL4) is likely to be more popular so as it goes somewhere many want to go for work and leisure – that being Canary Wharf.

Those two routes though are a long way short of the possible number mentioned when TfL and local councils like Greenwich were pushing for the crossing.

Hopes for a cross-river bus service from major growth area like Kidbrooke with 6,000 new homes as well as Eltham that lack the DLR went nowhere.

South of the river

Greenwich Council have really been shown up throughout the entire process. Not only will it see more traffic in various areas according to TfL’s own traffic modelling (with revised numbers pushed up last year) but gains little from new bus routes. The SL4 serves few stops within Greenwich borough, becoming limited stop as soon as it arrives from Lewisham borough. As noted the 129 is pretty much useless unless someone in Greenwich wants to go to Beckton. That isn’t many people.

In terms of wider physical upgrades and street improvements they’re almost all north of the Thames. Dismal streets on Greenwich peninsula aren’t seeing anything of note from the Silvertown tunnel fund. To add insult to injury, TfL recently boosted funding for street improvements north of the river which includes £3.1m for active travel with zero funds for Greenwich borough. We can only speculate why Greenwich Council’s ruling party and officers have done so poorly throughout the entire process.

Nearby housing

Back north and increased traffic from the tunnel will head past the vast Limmo Peninsula site owned by Transport for London where the organisation’s off-shoot developer Places for London is looking to build 1,500 homes.

Despite the site now being good to go for around six years, work has been slow to progress on new housing. Thing started moving on potential housing almost seven years ago in early 2018 but then halted.

Now it’s back on the drawing board but nothing is expected to happen for some years. A shame new housing has seen less urgency that new roads.

When it does get built having a lot more traffic running past the site probably won’t help it appeal to potential residents.

When up in the Cable Car the sheer expanse of sites that could see housing yet have sat vacant for years is stark.

Many plots have seen planning approval but little has happened. Being up here and reading of London’s chronic housing shortages really does show how broken the system is for new homes – and that doesn’t seem likely to change soon.

It’s a scene replicated over the river in Greenwich were 27 years after public funds cleared land and work on the Millennium Dome begun, acres are tarmac or fenced off wastelands.

As covered yesterday, things aren’t exactly rocketing ahead and a “temporary” car park has been given another decade in use.

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Cable Car

These photos were taken from the mode of transport loved by all – the Cable Car – and are the latest in a series covering Silvertown progress which I’ve been uploading for some time now. You may have noticed none appeared for some months.

The reason for that is the damn thing was too busy and popular and buying another 10-trip ticket (a bargain at £17) wasn’t easy. The cable car may be pretty useless for commuters (see current proposals to open later) but it’s another story later in the day for leisure use.

I tried to use it last month and made the mistake of doing so when Comicon was on at the Excel. Queues were ridiculous. A week later on a drizzling, dank day I thought surely it wouldn’t be busy. Nope. It had 30 people queuing for tickets and the same again for the pods. Scrapped that idea.

Third time was the charm though and queues were tolerable. That’s the thing about the system; it gets a load of flack but it pays its way (most users are paying £6 a ride) and is extremely popular much of time – just not for commuters. TfL usage stats over four-week periods seem to back that up.

Tunnel opening

Back to the tunnel and opening is expected around late spring next year when tolls will be applied to the Blackwall tunnel alongside the new route.

Tolls are set at a level that is expected to see traffic remain generally the same level – though recent TfL modelling still sees a net increase southbound through Greenwich borough along the A102 and A2.

It’ll also be interesting to see how many drivers avoid tolls by using the Rotherhithe tunnel as well as the Woolwich ferry.

Cyclists get to use the cycle bus though as noted before, given how dire some approach roads are south of the river it’s not exactly an enticing prospect and with no Silvertown tunnel funds from TfL for improvements nor Greenwich Council planning to improve until 2037 (!) that doesn’t look like changing.

Now it’s all about internal work within the structure before opening with system installation and testing currently underway.

Brace yourself as 2025 will see many politicians making arguments about the tunnel for various reasons including some opposing tolls (though they were the plan for ten years under both Tory and Labour Mayoral control) as well as all the expected traffic changes when it does open.

Buckle up. This tunnel will remain on the agenda for some time.

 

 

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