over 130,000 cars use the dartford crossing each day.
how many cars use the dartford crossing each day?
over 130,000
the dartford-thurrock river crossing, commonly known as the dartford crossing and until 1991 the dartford tunnel, is a major road crossing of the river thames in england, carrying the a282 road between dartford in kent in the south and thurrock in essex in the north. it consists of two bored tunnels and the cable-stayed queen elizabeth ii bridge. the only fixed road crossing of the thames east of greater london, it is the busiest estuarial crossing in the united kingdom, with an average daily use of over 130,000 vehicles. it opened in stages: the west tunnel in 1963, the east tunnel in 1980 and the bridge in 1991. the crossing, although not officially designated a motorway, is considered part of the m25 motorway's route, using the tunnels northbound and bridge southbound. described as one of the most important road crossings in britain, it suffers from heavy traffic and congestion.
dartford crossing
between september 1985 and december 1986, proposals for improvements to the dartford crossing underwent several changes, and in 1986, a trafalgar house consortium won a bid to build a new bridge at dartford crossing, valued at £86 million (£ million in ). at the time there were several other privately financed projects planned or under construction in the uk, including the second severn crossing. from 1981 until the establishment of the private finance initiatives (pfis) in the late 1980s, private investment projects were governed by the ryrie rules which dictated that "any privately-financed solution must be shown to be more cost-effective than a publicly-financed alternative, and that privately-financed expenditure by nationalised industries could not be additional to public expenditure provision" [annual budget], "which would be reduced by the amount of private finance borrowed."
dartford crossing