502 Sir Frederick Bramwell [Feb. 22, 



Bazalgette, Lave this session deposited j^lans, for giving a tunnel com- 

 munication. It is proposed that this should be made between the 

 Hermitage Basin of the London Docks on the north side, and Mill 

 Stairs and St. Saviour's Dock on the south side. 



The access on the north side will be from East Smithfield by 

 a widening of Nightingale Lane, situated as I have already said 

 between the St. Katherine and the Lc)ndou Docks. On the 

 large map is shown the position of the approaches. At this point 

 there is excellent communication to Tower Hill and the Minories 

 northward ; and by Trinity Square, and the New Street above the 

 District railway, westward ; Dock Street and Lcman Street afford 

 access to the Commercial Road and Mile End Eoad ; while Ratcliff 

 Highway, leads down to Shadwell and Limchouse. The ascent from 

 the tunnel will be made by an open cutting in the middle of New 

 Nightingale Lane, and on each side of this there will be roads at the 

 present level of the surface, affording access to the St. Katherino 

 Docks on the west, to the London Docks on the cast, and on the 

 south to the widened street of Wapi)ing. On the Surrey side 

 the ascent will be forked, terminating westerly in New Tooley Street, 

 and easterly in Jamaica Road, affording excellent communication with 

 Bermondsey, Rotherhithc, and Deptford. It is proposed to have a 

 single archway 36 feet wide, having two 4-fect footpaths, for carters 

 to lead their horses, and a clear roadway therefore of 28 feet, with a 

 headway of 17 feet in the centre. Parallel with this and forming 

 part of the work, there will be a jiassage for the foot traflSc, kept 

 se}arate from the roadway. This will be 14 feet high, and 12 feet 

 wide. The roadways will descend to the deepest part of the tunnel 

 by an inclination of 1 in 26 on the Surrey side, and 1 in 25 on the 

 Middlesex side ; but near to each shore a lateral roadway will bo 

 provided which will have a rise of only 1 in 40, and this roadway 

 will lead to a group of hydraulic lifts, by which the whole of the 

 heavy traftic will be raised, these lateral roadways being on the 

 respective " near " sides. By this arrangement, while all the traffic 

 will go down the inclines, and the light traffic — such as cabs, 

 carriages, tax-carts, and matters of that kind — will go up the inclines 

 (the steepest of which is at a much less pitch than parts of Ludgate 

 •Hill, or, as has already been stated, parts of St. James's Street), 

 the heavy waggons will avoid these inclines, drawing off to the lifts, 

 and will be taken to the surface without any exertion or hindrance, 

 thus rendering the passage through the tunnel far easier for such 

 traffic than that over London Bridge ; as to pass this bridge a 

 waggon, however heavily laden, coming from Tooley Street, has to 

 make an ascent of as much as 33 feet, while it would traverse 

 the tunnel and find itself upon the high ground of East Smithfield 

 without having had to do any climbing whatever. 



Provision of lifts will be made at once, for taking up all the heavy 

 traffic, assuming it to be one-half of that which now j)asse8 over 

 London Bridge at the busiest hour of the day. Tlie approach to the 



