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Understanding the impacts of Silvertown Tunnel

 

We did 3 main types of monitoring before the Silvertown Tunnel opened on traffic, air quality and the economic impacts of the tunnel. This monitoring will continue for at least 3 years after the tunnel's opening in April 2025.

The monitoring reports are available in the Monitoring and mitigation reporting section of the Silvertown Tunnel Implementation Group (STIG) page.

Changes to traffic

To understand how the Silvertown Tunnel would affect existing roads and local communities, we updated our earlier traffic and air quality modelling.

We shared the results of our monitoring with STIG and physical highway mitigation works were proposed at 3 locations and signal optimisation at 11 locations. The locations of these mitigation measures are outlined on the traffic mitigation map below.

The physical mitigations were completed before the tunnel opened in April 2025 to ensure that there would be no adverse impacts on local communities. Now that the Silvertown Tunnel is open, we'll continue to monitor the impacts on highways and air quality and will do more mitigation work if necessary.

Air quality

Without the Silvertown Tunnel, congestion and air quality around the Blackwall Tunnel were predicted to get worse as London's population grows.

User charges for both tunnels, as well as the new cross-river bus network, will help us manage the environmental impact of traffic. We're committed to ensuring the scheme delivers an overall improvement in air quality by reducing congestion at the Blackwall Tunnel.

Air quality in London has improved since we were granted permission to build the Silvertown Tunnel. This followed the introduction of measures to improve air quality as laid out in the Mayor's Transport Strategy, including the London-wide expansion of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).

We updated our air quality forecasts because of this improvement and the time since our original 2016 assessments, This will help us see how much air quality has improved and compare it to actual air quality now the tunnel is open.

The forecasts also helped us make decisions about the user charge - the main way to control demand and cut congestion levels. We'll continue to monitor air quality now the tunnel is open to help identify if any new localised mitigations, beyond the user charge, may be needed.

How we're doing the monitoring

Since December 2020, we've been monitoring air quality and specifically nitrogen dioxide (NO2) to ensure that the impacts of the Silvertown Tunnel are fully understood.

As part of our monitoring network, we have 38 diffusion tubes and 3 continuous monitoring stations recording nitrogen dioxide (NO2) across 5 boroughs: Greenwich, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Southwark and Lewisham.

The 3 continuous monitoring stations sample the air around the unit at 15-minute intervals and the data is reported live on the London Air Quality Network website. Other monitors are diffusion tubes installed on lamp posts on key roads and provide us with monthly averages of NO2 levels.

We've completed 3 years of baseline data - the full reports are available on the Silvertown Tunnel Implementation Group page. The reports include air quality data from selected local authorities - this helped us understand actual air quality levels on roads around the scheme before it opened.

Socio-economic changes

The Silvertown Tunnel is expected to increase access to jobs and homes in East London. Through socio-economic monitoring, we'll measure changes in personal and business travel, and assess the impacts on businesses. This monitoring will also help us understand what changes are actually related to the new tunnel.