Birmingham council considers 'super tunnel' under city centre
11 November 2014GREAT BRITAIN - A giant super-tunnel the length of Birmingham city centre is being considered to combat traffic congestion, local press announced recently. The underground motorway is one of a host of prospects put forward by Birmingham City Council.
The re-routing of the road is a major part of the Birmingham Mobility Action Plan white paper, unveiled on November 13, setting out the city council¹s 20-year vision for improving transport.
The super-tunnel option creating a new underground motorway similar to one in the US city of Boston is one of many options being looked into. Other options include joining up the existing St Chad¹s and Queensway tunnels or filling them in and ushering traffic around rather than through the city centre.
David Harris, transport policy manager at the city council, said the changes were part of an over-arching plan to offer more transport options and encourage people out of their cars.
Harris said: ³It is about people, not vehicles, and better ways of moving people through the city. We want a walkable city. The A38, particularly where it comes out of St Chad¹s tunnel, seems to create a massive barrier.
³Basically, we are saying there are options for the tunnels. Do you close them or join them up or close them and build new ones?"
The A38 currently sees 85,000 traffic movements daily, around half of which involve journeys by people purely wishing to get from one side of the city to the other.
