The 73-year old Queensway Tunnel in Liverpool, England, has won plaudits as safest for its age in Europe following recent upgrade works, whereas in Melbourne, Australia, a new regime of traffic control is being introduced following a fatal accident and fire in the Burnley Tunnel.
Merseytravel, the owner and operator of the 3.24km long, single-bore Queensway Tunnel, won praise for the structure and its operations in the latest examination for the independent European Tunnel Assessment Programme (EuroTAP). Despite its age, the tunnel has kept pace with safety standards, according to the review for EuroTAP co-ordinated in the UK by the AA.
A prime feature of recent safety improvement includes the approx US$14M (2002 prices) invested in creating seven new emergency refuges in the tunnel, which takes more than 32,000 cars of daily contraflow traffic between Liverpool and Birkenhead. The refuges were created below the road deck, which sits near mid-height in the 13.4m diameter tunnel that was built mostly with cast iron segments.
The space below deck is called “Central Avenue” and was originally meant to take trams, before construction began in 1925. By the time it opened as a toll tunnel in 1934, however, trams were not to use it. Engineers decided that the use of the space would be the optimum, and least disruptive, answer to creating more safety refuges. The client, consultant Mott MacDonald and contractor AMCO Donelon built the refuges at 200m centres, accessed via 1:8 ramps to reach 10m by 3m secure spaces below the road deck (T&TI, February 2006, p24).
Queensway and its sister tunnel under the river Mersey – Kingsway, which is a twin bore opened in 1971 – together outshone all other UK tunnels for safety, according to EuroTAP inspectors. The Kingsway 9.2m diameter tunnels had three new, 3.35m i.d. cross passages built before work began at Queensway.
General tunnel safety took a setback in Australia in March when three people died in a traffic accident and fire in the Burnley tunnel in Victoria state. The incident was triggered by traffic changing lanes. The tunnel was repaired and full systems tested to enable the tunnel to re-open within days.
Following investigations, the state government announced earlier this month it was launching a package of safety measures to be fully introduced and implemented over the next 12 months. Prime among the new rules is a ban on lane changing, reduced speed limit on approaches, and installation of emergency barriers for traffic control during incidents.
The entrance to the Queensway Tunnel, that has been praised for safety
