The partition between these Arches, running the whole length of the Tunnel, is cut into transverse arches, leading through from one roadsted to the other. The roadways are narrow, with each lane only some 8 feet wide, and two footways of between 4 and 6 feet wide on either side. Grace's Guide web site design is Copyright © 2020 by Grace's Guide Ltd. The For a Russian road, see They are now closed to the public (the roofs were damaged during WWII, and the iron staircases became dangerous), and currently the only entrance to the tunnel is via the main portals at each end (the bases of the staircases can still be seen as you pass through the tunnel). In 1869 it was converted into a railway tunnel for use by the At the start of the 19th century, there was a pressing need for a new land connection between the north and south banks of the Thames to link the expanding docks on each side of the river. The original redbrick circular building was demolished in 1967 to allow widening of The Highway to four lanes which now extends over half the shaft. https://londonist.com/2016/10/video-walking-through-the-rotherhithe-tunnel The Rotherhithe Tunnel was originally designed to serve foot and horse-drawn traffic passing between the docks on either side of the river. Following several incidents, including one where 49 people were taken to hospital, in 1930 the ventilation was upgraded, more powerful fans were added and extract fans added in shafts 2 and 3.

text of this web site is available under the By 1955, usage had quadrupled to 10,500 vehicles a day and by 1997 usage had tripled again, to over 34,000 vehicles a day. It consists of two beautiful Arches, extending to the opposite side of the river. Four shafts were sunk alongside the tunnel to aid construction and to serve later as ventilation and entrance shafts. It is a single storey circular redbrick building, originally constructed without a roof. The room is lighted with gas, and is brilliant. These served two purposes: avoiding the local docks on each side of the river, and preventing horses from seeing daylight at the end of the tunnel too early which might make them bolt for the exit. A plain surface building was constructed to house the fresh air supply fans. The Rotherhithe Tunnel is a road tunnel crossing beneath the River Thames in East London.

It was originally planned the tunnel would commence before the railway was reached however during construction this was changed to be north of this instead thus shortening the tunnel by 160 feet (50 m). In 2011, a concrete raft was built near the bottom of the shaft, above the tracks, when the tunnel was upgraded for the London Overground network. Both portals are faced with pink granite and were given Grade II heritage listing in 1983.

There are people who spend their lives there, seldom or never, I presume, seeing any daylight, except perhaps a little in the morning.
Shortly after opening 2,600 vehicles a day, mostly horse-drawn, and 14,000 pedestrians a day soon were using the tunnel — figures which were seen as easily justifying the expense of its construction.

Shaft 3 is the corresponding shaft on the north side located by the river in King Edward VII Memorial Park. A 2003 survey rated the tunnel the tenth most dangerous tunnel in Europe due to its poor safety features.Like many other London tunnels and bridges, the tunnel carries far more traffic than it was designed for.
It was dug by assembling an iron ring 50 feet (15 m) in diameter above ground.

The tunnel is entered via a sloping brick-lined open-air cutting at each end, leading to the entrance portals, followed by a short cut-and-cover section of tunnel until the first of the tunnel's four shafts are reached. Pedestrian numbers are now very low at around 20 per day, whilst cyclists number between 150 and 200 per day. Ladies, in fashionable dresses and with smiling faces, wait within and allow no gentleman to pass without giving him an opportunity to purchase some pretty thing to carry home as a remembrancer of the Thames Tunnel. The shafts are numbered 1 to 4, south to north.