Overview | |
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Location | connecting Strood to Chatham in Kent, UK |
Coordinates | 51°24′01″N0°31′36″E / 51.400357°N 0.526721°E |
Status | active |
Route | A289 connecting Strood with Chatham in Kent, under the River Medway, in the UK |
Crosses | River Medway |
Operation | |
Constructed | May 1992 – June 1996 |
Opened | 22 June 1996 |
Operator | Medway Council |
Traffic | vehicle |
Character | public |
Toll | none (free) |
Technical | |
Length | 2,360 ft (720 m) |
No. of lanes | 2 (each way) |
Operating speed | 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) |
The Medway Tunnel is a tunnel under the River Medway linking Strood with Chatham in Kent, England. It forms part of the A289 Medway Towns Northern Relief Road. The Medway Tunnel is the first immersed tube tunnel to be built in England and only the second of this type in the UK, the other at Conwy, North Wales. [1]
The Rochester Bridge had been the lowest river crossing of the River Medway for centuries, and despite expansion in the 1970s was very congested. In the late 1980s, the Medway Tunnel was proposed downstream of the Bridge to relieve congestion on the bridge, to allow greater access to the Medway Towns and assist with redevelopment of Chatham Dockyard. [2]
Medway Tunnel Act 1990 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to authorise the Wardens and Assistants of Rochester Bridge in the county of Kent to construct works and to acquire lands; and for other purposes. |
Citation | 1990 c. xxii |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 26 July 1990 |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
The Medway Tunnel Bill – promoted by the Rochester Bridge Trust – was submitted to Parliament in 1988. The Medway Tunnel Act 1990 (c. xxii) was passed granting the Rochester Bridge Trust the power to build and own the tunnel. [3]
The £80m project was carried out by an HBM Civil Engineering / Tarmac Construction joint venture, and started in May 1992. [3] The tunnel itself was constructed in three distinct sections. The central part of the tunnel is the 370 metres (1,210 ft) of immersed tube, which is linked to cut and cover tunnels on both the Strood and Chatham banks of the river, [1] with a total tunnel length of 720 metres (2,360 ft). [4]
As part of the construction project, 800 metres (2,600 ft) of new dual carriageway and a new junction was built to connect the new tunnel to the existing road network. [4] Separate from the project, various bypasses and link roads were constructed to provide access to the local area - the A289 Medway Northern Relief Road. [2]
The Medway Tunnel was officially opened by the Princess Royal on 12 June 1996. [3] [5] In 1996, it won an award from the UK's Concrete Society. [4]
In 2008 negotiations were completed by Medway Council which purchased the freehold of the tunnel from the Trust for £1 with a £3.6m contribution on future costs. [3] [6]
As of March 2023, the tunnel is used by around 40,000 vehicles per day. [7]
Cyclists are currently not allowed to travel through the tunnel which is not part of the local cycle network. [8]
Chatham is a town located within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. In 2020 it had a population of 80,596.
The Thames and Medway Canal is a disused canal in Kent, south east England, also known as the Gravesend and Rochester Canal. It was originally some 11 km (6.8 mi) long and cut across the neck of the Hoo peninsula, linking the River Thames at Gravesend with the River Medway at Strood. The canal was first mooted in 1778 as a shortcut for military craft from Deptford and Woolwich Dockyards on the Thames to Chatham Dockyard on the Medway, avoiding the 74 km (46 mi) journey round the peninsula and through the Thames estuary. The canal was also intended to take commercial traffic between the two rivers.
Rochester is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about 30 miles (50 km) from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gillingham. Rochester was a city until losing its status as one in 1998 following the forming of Medway and failing to protect its status as a city. There have been ongoing campaigns to reinstate the city status for Rochester. In 2011 it had a population of 62,982.
Medway is a borough and unitary authority area in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998, when the boroughs of Rochester-upon-Medway and Gillingham were merged to form Medway Towns. The borough is governed by Medway Council, a unitary authority which is independent of Kent County Council, but remains part of the ceremonial county of Kent.
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance of 70 miles (113 km). About 13 miles (21 km) of the river lies in East Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent.
The A2 is a major road in south-east England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent. This route has always been of importance as a connection between London and sea trade routes to Continental Europe. It was originally known as the Dover Road. The M2 motorway has replaced part of the A2 as the strategic route.
Rainham is a town in the unitary authority area of Medway, in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Gillingham.
Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham and Rainham. It lies on the northwest bank of the River Medway at its lowest bridging point.
The Hoo Peninsula is a peninsula in Kent, England, separating the estuaries of the rivers Thames and Medway. It is dominated by a line of chalk, clay and sand hills, surrounded by an extensive area of marshland composed of alluvial silt. The name Hoo is a Saxon word believed to mean 'spur of land' or refers to the 'distinct heel-shape of the ridge of hills' through Hoo. Hoo features in the Domesday Book. The peninsula is home to internationally and nationally protected wildlife sites as well as industrial facilities and energy industries.
Fort Amherst, in Medway, South East England, was constructed in 1756 at the southern end of the Brompton lines of defence to protect the southeastern approaches to Chatham Dockyard and the River Medway against a French invasion. Fort Amherst is now open as a visitor attraction throughout the year with tours provided through the tunnel complex
Strood railway station serves the town of Strood in Medway, England. It is on the North Kent Line and is also a terminus of the Medway Valley Line. It is 31 miles 11 chains (50.1 km) down the line from London Charing Cross.
Rochester railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town of Rochester, Kent. It is 33 miles 61 chains (54.3 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between Sole Street and Chatham.
Rochester and Strood is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Kelly Tolhurst, a Conservative. Since 2022, she has served as Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household.
The Medway Viaducts are three bridges or viaducts that cross the River Medway between Cuxton and Borstal in north Kent, England. The two road bridges carry the M2 motorway carriageways. The other viaduct carries the High Speed 1 railway line linking London and the Channel Tunnel. All three bridges pass over the Medway Valley Line.
Rochester Bridge in Rochester, Medway was for centuries the lowest fixed crossing of the River Medway in South East England. There have been several generations of bridge at this spot, and the current "bridge" is in fact four separate bridges: the Old Bridge and New Bridge carrying the A2 road, Railway Bridge carrying the railway and the Service Bridge carrying service pipes and cables. The bridge links the towns of Strood and Rochester in Medway. All except the railway bridge are owned and maintained by the Rochester Bridge Trust.
Frindsbury is part of the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, southern England. It lies on the opposite side of the River Medway to Rochester, and at various times in its history has been considered fully or partially part of the City of Rochester. Frindsbury today is part of the town of Strood and covers the most northern part of the town. Frindsbury refers to both a parish and a manor. Within the civil parish of Frindsbury Extra are the villages of Frindsbury, Wainscott, and Upnor. Frindsbury was also the name given to an electoral ward in the City of Rochester that straddled the parishes of Frindsbury and Strood.
The A226 road travels in a west–east direction in southeast London and north Kent, from Crayford in the London Borough of Bexley, through Dartford, Gravesend to Strood. It is about 15.7 miles in length.
Frindsbury Extra is a civil parish divided into commercial, suburban residential and rural parts on the Hoo Peninsula in Medway, a ceremonial part of Kent. It is contiguous with the fully urbanised Frindsbury part of Strood and is bounded by Cliffe and Cliffe Woods to the north, Hoo to the east, and the River Medway to the south-east at Upnor and a long, narrow meander of the river in the far south. On Medway Council it has councillors representing the Strood Rural ward currently on almost identical boundaries.
Transportation needs within the county of Kent in South East England has been served by both historical and current transport systems.
The Victory Academy is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Chatham in the English county of Kent.