The Blackwall Tunnel’s Royal Opening in 1897 had a few cracks in the tiles to start

Officially opened by the Prince of Wales in 1897, the Blackwall Tunnel’s construction process was far from smooth, with changes in leadership and delays before its completion. 

On 22 May 1897, 10,000 guests gathered to witness the ceremonial opening of the Blackwall Tunnel, a long-awaited moment that hadn’t always been the easiest ride. Designed to increase trade and reduce traffic pressure in the Docklands, at the time, the tunnel was the longest underwater road in the world.

The Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, opened the tunnel on behalf of Queen Victoria; their carriages were pulled by horse from central London, and once they ceremonially unlocked the northern gates with a gold key, the Royal party travelled to the south side for the reception. 

The project wasn’t as smooth as its completion, with the tunnel still not being open to the general public until a month after its official ceremony due to incomplete tiling and pedestrian stairs not having been completed. 

The history behind the Blackwall tunnel has had moments of highs and lows. The early planning stages involved the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW). They were formed in 1855 by the government to oversee the city’s important responsibilities of sewers, streets and bridges, the fire service, and parks and open spaces. They were responsible for even the detailed tasks of numbering houses and naming the streets.  

The first plans were prepared in 1887 by the Metropolitan Board of Works’s civil engineer, Joseph Bazalgette, and the Thames Tunnel (Blackwall) Act approving the plans was passed that August. The design included three separate parallel tunnels, one for pedestrians and two for vehicles.

A series of scandals plagued the board, an unelected body, resulting in a Royal Commission investigation. The report found irregularities in administration, including a lack of transparency about decision-making, and cronyism with property deals offered at biased prices for favours. 

As a result, under the Local Government Act 1888, the powers and duties of the Board were transferred to the London County Council (LCC). But, the MBW left with one last fanfare, in the final meeting of March 1889, they attempted to award the contract for the Blackwall Tunnel, one last deal just before the change in power. This caused the incoming London County Council to go to the government and dissolve the board immediately, overstepping their role, resulting in a conflicted end. 

The delays led to frustration across the East of London, particularly Poplar, Bromley and Bow, as local traders and MPs urged the LCC to continue the plans. According to the parliamentary notes from 15 June 1888, Mr Sydney Buxton, MP for Tower Hamlets, Poplar, asked “when does the Board expect to be able to commence the vehicular tunnel”, with rising pressure to connect East London with the south to enhance business and trade.

Once the LCC took over the project, they reworked the original designs and put forward a single tunnel with two lanes. The tunnel contract was awarded to S. Pearson & Sons, who began the work in March 1892, which lasted for five years. 

Today, the Blackwall Tunnel is a pair of tunnels, with the original northbound road and a second southbound tunnel being added in 1967 to help with traffic flow. It now carries four lanes of traffic, with around 50,000 vehicles passing through each day, roughly one every 1.7 seconds.

The plan to build the second eastern Blackwall Tunnel went forward in 1938, but work didn’t start until 1960 due to the outbreak of World War Two. The second tunnel, consisting of two lanes of traffic, opened on 2 August 1967.

Originally intended to provide a free crossing of the river in both directions, toll charges were introduced in April 2025 when the Silvertown tunnel was also opened. Tfl shared that with the opening of the Silvertown Tunnel, there will also be an additional toll on the Blackwall Tunnel. They said it is to “help manage traffic levels across both tunnels, repay costs for building the new Silvertown Tunnel and go towards maintenance and operation of both tunnels”. This came with the new opening of the Silvertown Tunnel on 7 April 2025.

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