The front was placed against the earth to be removed, and the workman, having removed one board, excavated the earth behind it to the depth directed, and placed the board against the new surface exposed. It will modernize London’s 150-year-old sewer system, originally built for a population less than half its current size, reducing untreated discharges into the River Thames by tens of millions of tons per year. The construction of the Thames Tunnel showed that it was indeed possible to build underwater tunnels, despite the previous scepticism of many engineers. Brunel's Thames Tunnel now carries the London Overground between Wapping and Rotherhithe, but has a long history. Here’s a forward thinking solution… Tell us what you think! September 08 2020 Silvertown Tunnel: MPs demand review of £1.2bn project due to TfL’s ‘perilous’ finances – Architect’s Journal. The upgrades to London’s five main sewage treatment works along the River Thames, the Lee Tunnel and the proposed Thames Tunnel will all provide additional capacity and improve water quality in the river. But looking back in time, it appears these innovative plans were vaguely sketched out back in the late 1700s. A coalition of national and local organisations has called for MPs and local councils to support the construction of a new tunnel under the Thames which will stop tens of millions of tonnes of sewage overflowing into London’s river each year. The American traveller William Allen Drew commented that "No one goes to London without visiting the Tunnel" and described it as the "eighth wonder of the world". As construction would require the temporary closure of the East London Line, it was decided to take this opportunity to perform long-term maintenance on the tunnel and so in 1995 the East London Line was closed to allow construction and maintenance to take place. These Arches contain each a roadsted, fourteen feet wide and twenty-two feet high, and pathways for pedestrians, three feet wide. It was realised that the problem was caused because the shaft's sides were parallel; years later when the Wapping shaft was built, it was slightly wider at the bottom than the top. It is still possible to take a walking tour through the tunnel to Wapping from Rotherhithe and back, but these are infrequent and on an ad hoc basis as they can only take place when that section of the line is closed for maintenance. Walkers and cyclists use the towpaths, and people often venture unknowingly on to the foreshore where sewage is currently deposited. The views back across the Thames of the Old Royal Naval College and the rest of Greenwich are truly stunning! Only then will London be ready to deal with the kind of chaos that climate change promises us. Extra weight was required to make it continue its descent; 50,000 bricks were added as temporary weights. It was the first tunnel to be built under a navigable river and hailed as the eighth wonder of the world. Campaigners from Thames Tunnel Now, the coalition of around 30 amenity and environmental groups that back the Tideway Tunnel as the best way of cleaning up London’s river, were out in force at the weekend promoting their message to visitors to the Thames Festival held on the embankment outside City Hall. The Lower Thames Crossing is a new tunnel going under the Thames, connecting Kent and Essex. Nor doubt the success of your Tunnel. It is the first tunnel known to have been constructed successfully underneath a navigable river and was built between 1825 and 1843 using Marc Isambard Brunel's and Thomas Cochrane's newly invented tunnelling shield, by Brunel and his son Isamba… Environmental charities and amenity groups representing over 5 million people who have been campaigning for a cleaner Thames in London have today welcomed the decision of the government to go ahead with the long awaited and much needed Thames Tideway Tunnel. There are people who spend their lives there, seldom or never, I presume, seeing any daylight, except perhaps a little in the morning. They charged a shilling for the adventure and an estimated 600–800 visitors took advantage of the opportunity every day. It measures 35 feet (11 m) wide by 20 feet (6 m) high and is 1,300 feet (396 m) long, running at a depth of 75 feet (23 m) below the river surface measured at high tide. This was highlighted in the recent video ‘You Poo Too’ which can be viewed here: http://www.thamestidewaytunnel.co.uk/the-project?q=up2. Connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping, the Thames Tunnel was built between 1825 and 1843 by Marc Brunel and his son, the legendary Great Western railway engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Illustrated London News described how it worked: The mode in which this great excavation was accomplished was by means of a powerful apparatus termed a shield, consisting of twelve great frames, lying close to each other like as many volumes on the shelf of a book-case, and divided into three stages or stories, thus presenting 36 chambers of cells, each for one workman, and open to the rear, but closed in the front with moveable boards. The 25km Thames Tideway Tunnel will be financed and delivered by and independent infrastructure provider, regulated by Ofwat, rather than by Thames Water itself. 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