Yes, you heard me: tolls. The Silvertown Tunnel isn’t free. Transport for London (TfL) hasn’t set the exact price yet, but early estimates put a car at £4 to £6 per crossing. That’s per trip, my friend. If you’re a van driver, double it. If you’re an HGV, triple it. And if you’re a cyclist? Well, you probably won’t even be allowed in.
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To be fair, the toll is meant to manage traffic—stop the tunnel from becoming a giant car park. But let’s be real: that toll also covers the £2.2 billion mortgage the project took out. Every time you pay, you’re buying a tiny brick of that underwater corridor. You’re welcome, infrastructure.
And here’s the twist: the Blackwall Tunnel—the free, ancient, claustrophobic rival—will also get tolled. That’s right. To avoid drivers flooding the free option, TfL plans to slap a similar charge on the Blackwall Tunnel. So the Silvertown Tunnel isn’t just costing you money; it’s making the alternative cost money too. It’s like a nightclub that raises the cover charge at the bar across the street.
Who Pays for This Thing, Really?
You might think, “Oh, it’s the government’s money.” Nope. The government chipped in about £1 billion, but the rest is from the private consortium. And how do they get their money back? Through your tolls. So when you see “Public-Private Partnership,” read it as “You pay now, you pay later, and you pay a little extra for the privilege.”
But wait—there’s also the environmental cost. Opponents argue that building a brand-new road tunnel just encourages more cars. More cars mean more CO2, more noise, and more of that lovely London air that tastes like diesel. The project’s defenders say it’s for buses and cleaner vehicles. Sure it is. And I’m the Queen of the River Thames.
London transport: First look inside £2.2bn Silvertown Tunnel - BBC News
Let’s not forget the human cost. Building a tunnel under a bustling river means construction noise, road closures, and a whole lot of dust. Residents near the entrance points have been dealing with this for years. Their patience? Priceless. Their compensation? A fraction of £2.2 billion, probably.
