Tunnel chaos: we need a faster, safer escape plan

2:20pm Tuesday 13th May 2008

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WHEN acccidents happen - like last Wednesday night in the Wallasey Tunnel - why aren't barriers lifted to clear traffic in tunnels?

A two-hour queue and the whole of Liverpool city centre gridlocked isn't acceptable - it's what happens when you let a passenger transport authority try' and run the highway and police the roads at the same time.

The knock-on effects of a crash at the tunnels affect all of Merseytravel's services and users, not just tunnels, and everyone leaving work, so why not swallow the loss and clear the mess as fast and efficiently and lift the barriers for an hour and clear the traffic?

This will not only get the cars out quicker but also safer and prevent more accidents. If safety was Merseytravel's primary concern over money they would do this.

Another point - why allow cars to queue inside the tunnel? This puts thousands of drivers in a high risk situation - trapped in a tunnel and sitting on a tank full of petrol. Have they learned nothing about tunnel accidents like the Alps fires with 1000c temps and thick smoke and high deaths?

If the tunnels close they should aim to get both tunnels emptied immediately and their single concern must be safety, not profit. There must have been 1,500 vehicles stuck in one tunnel alone . . . that's how many people trapped?

Upon reaching the toll booths, we had only two manned and two auto booths open - this isn't enough in a two-mile rush hour jam. On the opposite side of the booths, all Liverpool-bound traffic was being re-routed back along the motorway - the U-turn made things even more messy by the pretend police' . They have two escape roads they could use for this - again it was a bottlenecked mess at the other end.

I'm sure the real police would do a better job of controlling the roads because this was a right botch-up'.

I appreciate accidents happen, but Merseytravel do little to make things safer or faster for people entering or exiting the city, whether using the actual tunnel or not.

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