Archaeology Notes

Event ID 846400

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/846400

NS56NW 200.00 5431 6676 to 5530 6590

NS56NW 200.01 NS 54316 66748 North Portal (Ferryden St)

NS56NW 200.02 NS 54316 66748 South Portal (Holmfauld Rd)

Clyde Tunnel [NAT] (at NS 5421 6625)

OS 1:1250 map, 1965 [map sheet NS5466SW].

Clyde Tunnel [NAT] (at NS 5426 6662)

OS 1:1250 map, 1973 [map sheet NS5466SW].

Not to be confused with (disused pedestrian) Harbour Tunnel (NS 5718 6516 to NS 57072 64951), for which see NS56NE 79.00.

Clyde Tunnel. From Whiteinch on the N bank to Linthouse on the S. Built 1957-64, but first planned just after the Second World War, when bridges over the navigable approach to the city could not be contemplated. Engineer Sir Wm Halcrow & Partners of London, whose associate architect E J D Mansfield designed the ventilation buldings and the landscaping of the approaches; contractor Charles Brand & Son Ltd. The planning consultant fot the Tunnel and Clydeside Expressway junction was William Holford & Associates.

A short tunnel of two seperate tubes, each containing two lanes of road traffic, and, under the road, a cycle track and pedestrian passage; one tube for northbound traffic, one for southbound.

The tunnel is approached down ramps through cuttings and underpasses, all of grey concrete which is generally dirty, and entered under the ventialtion buildings, fronted by the wide glazing of the tunnel control rooms. A steep descent (1 in 16) and immediate change to ascent reflect the narrowness of the river. Despite the tunnel's shortness, widely varying geological strata made the construction difficult.

At each end, a swirl of approach roads. The best hard landscaping is under the flyover of the Clyde Expressway (A814) at Broomhill Drive, a little to the E, where pleasant pedestrian routes run through the junction in several directions.

E Williamson, A Riches and M Higgs 1990.

This tunnel carries the A739 public road between Whiteinch (to the N) and Linthouse (to the S) beneath the River Clyde (Glasgow Lower Harbour). The river here forms the boundary between the parishes of Glasgow (to the N) and Govan (to the S). The route of the tunnel is indicated by pecked lines on the appropriate sheets of the OS 1:1250 map.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 6 January 2006.