Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Brumtunnel Closures 2014 - deja vu all over again

A reminder that the A38 St Chads and Queensway tunnels will be closed again during the school holidays this year.

The full closure will apply from 10pm on Friday 18 July through to 6am on Monday 1 September.

Starting on the 4 July, there will be two weeks of overnight closures from 10pm to 6am and a further four weeks of overnight closures to the 28th September. There will be up to 120 people working in the tunnels at any one time and work will continue round the clock to ensure that the tunnels reopen for business on time

This will complete the upgrade work started last year, which left the tunnels resurfaced, cleaner and brighter. The new phase of works will see the ventilation system, pumping stations, plant rooms, security and communication systems upgraded. 32 vehicle detection cameras will be installed to spot breakdowns and set signs to warn motorists. New smoke extraction and fire response systems will be installed to ensure that in the event of a fire, emergency exit doors can be opened remotely to ensure people don't escape into moving traffic and to make sure that smoke is removed quickly and safely. Over 40 miles of cabling will be installed as part of the work. .

Clearly, this will cause inconvenience - that's unavoidable - but the work has to be done. The lessons of last year were that it could have been a lot worse. Carrying out the work during the holidays makes a difference and we also found that many people chose to find alternate routes or modes of transport into the City for the duration.

For the most up to date information, refer to Brumtunnels.

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