Plans unveiled for new Thames tunnel

Transport for London has started a consultation process with local residents on plans for a new road tunnel under the Thames at Silvertown.

Tfl said: "East and southeast London will be the focus for half of all the Capital’s population and employment growth over the next twenty years. Ensuring that vehicles can easily cross the Thames will be important in achieving this growth.

"The existing vehicle crossings – the Blackwall Tunnel, Rotherhithe Tunnel and the Woolwich Ferry – are already under strain. We need to put in place more ways to cross the river so that both people and goods traffic can move efficiently now and in the future."

A new road tunnel between Silvertown and north Greenwich would provide an alternative route between the Royal Docks, Isle of Dogs, Lower Lea Valley and Greenwich Peninsula.

Tfl is hoping to build the new tunnel by 2021.