Text 1: The Mersey Tunnel

1. The Mersey tunnel is one of the biggest underwater tunnel of the world. What other underwater tunnels do you know?

2. What are the construction techniques of underwater tunnels?

3. What are the purposes of underwater tunnels?

The cities of Liverpool and Birkenhead are joined by a tunnel which goes under the river Mersey. It is the famous Mersey Tunnel, one of the biggest underwater tunnels in the world. Its total length is over two and a half miles. During the year 1956 more than 10 million vehicles used the tunnel. Its construction has been a great engineering achievement. The work started in December 1925 on the Liverpool side and a few months later on the Birkenhead side. It had been decided to approach the work by driving from each bank of the river two pilot headings, an upper and a lower one, which would meet under the middle part of the river. Vertical shafts were sunk on both sides of the river and the excavation work began. At first the working face of the heading was broken up by compressed air drills, later explosives were used. The headings met on the 3rd of April, 1928, twenty-seven months after the work had begun. The divergences in line and level were found to be a fraction of an inch, showing how accurately and correctly the survey work and the determination of working levels had been done. The next stage of the work was the enlarging of the pilot headings into the full-sized tunnel. Steel, cast iron and concrete were used in lining the tunnel. From the very start it was realised that the ventilation of a tunnel of such length, which was to be used by vehicles propelled by internal combustion, would be a very difficult problem. Finally, a system of ventilation was adopted in which air is blown into the tunnel through ducts at roadway level and drawn off along the roof through exhausts. The Mersey Tunnel was completed in 1934. It was opened on the 18th of July, 1934. At the time it seemed a complete solution of the communication difficulties that had existed between Liverpool and Birkenhead. Today it is obvious that the solution has been only temporary. The ever-increasing exports from the port of Liverpool and the rapid development of Merseyside as an industrial centre have resulted in a great increase in motor traffic through the tunnel. Plans are now being made for the use of the space between the walls supporting the reinforced concrete roadway at the lower level of the tunnel (1840).