"Walter Briscoe" wrote:
In message . com of Thu,
20 Sep 2007 09:03:36 in uk.transport.london, Mizter T
writes

[snip]

The other fact I like about the Rotherhithe Tunnel is that alongside
the 34,000 vehicles that use it daily there are 20 brave pedestrians
who walk through it! I've no idea if the pavement through the tunnel

Where did you find that?

I was bored one day...

But that would be a fib! I found the figures in the footnotes of a TfL press
release from May '05:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/4049.aspx

I've no idea how accurate that count is. I think I may have seen someone
walking through once whilst I was driving through. I wonder if the count
really was for the whole 24 hours. I can imagine that it might seem like an
attractive route option late at night after one has been imbibing in a
hostelry - or perhaps I should say that I can almost imagine that *my*
fuzzified mind might think along those lines! That's perhaps the worst time
to walk though because as well as the wobble factor some cars do speed
through there late at night if they have a free run (though that said there
might be less traffic, so less pollution, plus fewer large vans). See later
in my post for moire info on why those speed cameras are no weapon agaionst
this.


is officially shared by pedestrians and cyclists, but certainly no-one
will begrudge those cyclists who do take this subterranean route for
cycling on the pavement (which is what they do) given the very narrow
of the roadway.

I have walked through it once in each direction. It took me about 15
minutes. I would not recommend it because the pollution seems atrocious.
A dentist friend cycles it daily on his work journey. Cycles sensibly and
illegally use the footpath. I suggest using the wrong footpath as there
are some pretty wide, overhanging vehicles which squeeze through the 7' 6"
width restricting bollards. There are cameras on both approaches to
encourage compliance with the 20 limit.

The speed cameras you mention appear to be normal Gatsos which aren't linked
to each other, and they are only present on the approach roads to the the
tunnel mouths so there isn't any speed enforcement in the tunnel itself.
This is unlike the SPECS system that's now in use on Tower Bridge to enforce
the 20mph limit which uses a pair of cameras at different spots and
calculates the intervening speed of vehicles - see
http://www.abd.org.uk/local/city_of_london.htm and
http://www.abd.org.uk/specs.htm.

Regarding cyclists, I think I've seen them going both directions on both
footpaths (but I've only ever seen a single cyclist down there at anyone
time). Your suggestion about using the 'wrong' footpath and facing the
oncoming traffic is of course most wise, though it does beg the question of
what might happen if two cyclists or a cyclist and one of these very rare
breed of hardy Rotherhithe Tunnel pedestrians might meet whilst down there!

It is of course not even remotely a sensible route for cyclists and
pedestrians, and it's not exactly that sensible a route for motor traffic
either! I have found it a good cross-river route at times though, but don't
have much experience of using it at rush-hour which I can imaginbe might be
somewhat hellish. Cyclists would be far better heading to London Bridge or
to the Greenwich foot tunnel and wheeling their bike through it.

However it's just one of the stupid things I feel I should do once - I won't
do it when inebriated though!

Perhaps some day over the rainbox the powers that be might give up on
motorised traffic through the Rotherhithe Tunnel and dedicate it as a walk
and cycleway. And then I'll consume my hat!