OUT of sight of the millions of drivers who use Queensway tunnel every year, an amazing underground complex of walkways, refuges, and escape routes has been taking shape.
Now, with the ambitious £9m safety project nearing completion, Merseytravel has revealed for the first time the subterranean world that exists beneath the heavily used Liverpool to Birkenhead roadway.
It is designed to act as a safe refuge in the event of a major incident in the 71-year-old tunnel, such as a fire or toxic spillage.
The main impetus for the scheme came from the devastating blaze in the Mont Blanc tunnel, between France and Italy, in which 39 people died in 1999.
Merseytravel, which owns and operates the Mersey tunnels, says the project now brings the Queensway tunnel in line with the highest European specifications for escape provision.
Seven refuge points have been built, at regular intervals, throughout the tunnel. In an emergency, a public address system and flashing arrows direct people to the nearest escape route, which is protected by fire-resistant doors.
They are then led down a brightly-lit corridor to a bunker, each capable of taking 180 people, which is connected by two-way CCTV with the Mersey tunnel police control room.
Depending on the severity of the incident, people will then remain in the refuge until the tunnel is declared safe, up to a maximum of four hours.
But in extreme cases they will be led along a central avenue running directly underneath the road which links all the refuges and leads to two escape entrances outside the tunnel at Liverpool's Pier Head, or Shore Road in Birkenhead, whichever is nearer.
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