Birmingham city centre tunnels re-open

BIRMINGHAM’S main city centre road tunnels have re-opened after six weeks of maintenance work.

The St Chad’s and Queensway tunnels, on the A38 between St Chad’s Cathedral and The Mailbox, shut last month for their first major work in 40 years.

Traffic chaos was forecast but diversions appear to have worked with many motorists unaffected by the closures. 

Contractor Amey’s plan to do the work during the school holidays when traffic is 20% lighter also seems to have played a part in minimising disruption.

However, another two weeks of night closure are needed to finish the work.

Nearly 1,000 new lights have been installed in the tunnels and about 21,000 sq m of fire protection has been added to the walls and ceiling.

Engineers have also improved fire escapes and the general appearance.

The tunnels are used by about 85,000 vehicles every day.

Next year further improvement work will concentrate on electrics within the tunnels – including installing new emergency and communications systems.