TRANSPORT FOR

RIVER CROSSINGS: EAST OF SILVERTOWN CROSSINGS SUPPORTING TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION

This document contains NEEDS AND OPTIONS information relevant to the REPORT – SUMMARY following options:

TfL 07 July 2014 Ferries X This document summarises the need for Bridges X new river crossings in east and south east Tunnels X London and assesses potential options.

It sets out the process of identifying Gallions Reach shortlisted options, and provides an Ferries X outline of their potential impacts. Bridges X Tunnels X

Belvedere Ferries X

Bridge X Tunnels X

Others – various TfL River Crossings East of Silvertown – Needs and Options

SUMMARY

Background and purpose London is growing rapidly, and needs many more jobs and homes to support the rising population – and this growth will generate travel. Growth needs various types of transport infrastructure as set out in the London Plan – this includes both public transport and road infrastructure. East and south are expected to see a lot of this anticipated growth – there are also many key drivers of growth on the north side of the Thames in east London such as Excel and London City Airport. The East London sub-region has a (2011 census) resident population of some 2.3 million, with communities on the north of the river (some 1.5 million people) being separated from those to the south (some 800,000 people). This population separated by the Thames is similar in size to either the Manchester or the West Midlands conurbations, the two largest built-up areas outside London. (TfL) has already consulted on river crossings in general, and has decided to take forward a preferred option for a new road crossing between North and Silvertown. This new Silvertown Tunnel would significantly reduce existing and future congestion at, and improve the resilience of, the , the strategic river crossing in east London. The question now remains of what, if any, other crossings are needed east of Silvertown, including a potential replacement of the Woolwich Ferry. The study area under consideration for this part of the river crossings programme is therefore the area east of Silvertown to the , including the boroughs of Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Greenwich and Bexley.

Policy Existing regional and local planning and transport policy gives general and specific support to new road-based river crossings in east London to:  improve public transport, and  address identified significant strategic and local needs for cross-river accessibility. Policies include specific references to the consideration of a new vehicle ferry at Gallions Reach, and a longer-term fixed link at this location; other locations may also meet river crossing policy requirements and are not precluded. Policy also sets out ‘criteria’ to be taken into account in the assessment of new transport infrastructure proposals. Emerging policy also points to the increasing importance TfL River Crossings East of Silvertown – Needs and Options

of growth in the areas adjacent to the river in east and south east London and in the east sub-region of London as a whole.

Assessment of existing needs Sustained investment in public transport in the area has resulted in a step change in the provision of cross-river rail connectivity over the last 20 years, and a further high capacity rail crossing in the form of Crossrail is under construction. There is no evidence of unduly limited rail capacity arising in the foreseeable future, although TfL is currently reviewing the transport implications of growth projections. In terms of bus access, there is only a single cross-river bus service in east London due to the lack of suitable road river crossings (there are 47 cross-river bus services in west London). There are few walking and cycling crossings in east London, and none east of the Woolwich Ferry. However there are only three highway cross-river links between Tower Bridge and the Dartford Crossing, leaving a stretch of some 14km between the Woolwich Ferry and Dartford Crossing without a crossing, a significant connectivity gap. All of the existing crossings are limited in capacity and have height, width, and/or load restrictions. This leads to major resilience problems, lack of connectivity and longer journey times. Incidents at crossings causing obstruction and delay are excessively frequent and have significant adverse impacts across the wider road network. The Silvertown Tunnel project aims to address the existing lack of capacity and resilience currently experienced at the Blackwall Tunnel, although it does not address resilience further east. While other transport modes are important, road based travel accounts for more than two thirds of all personal travel in four out of the five study area boroughs, the exception being Newham, where it accounts for some 49%, and is particularly important for freight.. While road-based mode share is expected to decrease over time, supported by TfL’s significant investment in public transport, it is clear that, given this dominance of road-based trips and the growth of population and employment expected in east London, increased highway travel overall is expected, and the pressure on the existing river crossings will increase. Currently the Dartford Crossings and Blackwall Tunnels provide the strategic traffic carrying function in the study area. The Woolwich Ferry, with a much lower capacity and slower journey time, has a more local function, although it is also used by certain categories of vehicles and loads which cannot use the Blackwall Tunnels. Taking account of TfL’s proposed Silvertown Tunnel crossing to relieve the Blackwall Tunnel and the DfT’s proposals to improve conditions at the Dartford TfL River Crossings East of Silvertown – Needs and Options

Crossing, the residual need for a new crossing in the study area relates mainly to meeting existing and forecast local road traffic demand, though clearly, any crossing would also carry some longer distance traffic. Accessibility comparisons show that the barrier of the river constrains the economic and social opportunities available to residents and businesses on both sides of the river east of Tower Bridge, whereas no significant river barrier effect is indicated to the west. In addition two thirds of local businesses report that the ability to cross the river by road in East London is important to their business, with a third rating it as very important or essential. Only 18% feel current crossings are adequate.

Assessment of future needs East London contains areas of high deprivation and is one of the largest regeneration areas in the UK - the east sub-region contains 14 opportunity areas and areas for intensification, accounting for 27 percent of London’s overall development land potential. The delivery of sustainable development in this area is absolutely essential to maximising London’s significant economic potential. However, movements within the sub-region are significantly constrained by the ‘barrier effect’ of the Thames. This ‘barrier effect’ limits local firms’ access to markets, the size of retail and leisure catchments and residents’ access to employment opportunities, in a way that is peculiar to the eastern half of the Capital. This constraint on economic activity makes delivering the significant scale of development planned for the area more uncertain. Growth in east London, which appears to be happening far more quickly than had previously been forecast, is predicted to significantly increase the volume of road traffic in the study area together with associated levels of congestion.

Assessment of needs conclusion The overall conclusion is that there is a clear lack of road-based connectivity in east London, with the distance between crossings constraining movement and making cross-river highway trips longer and more costly, and severely limiting the ability to run cross-river bus services and reducing network resilience. This in turn reduces the ability of communities and businesses to interact cross-river and increases the costs of doing so. The existing road transport river crossings east of Tower Bridge are inadequate to cater for the existing and forecast future demand for cross river movement – they are at or over capacity and experience severe resilience problems. TfL River Crossings East of Silvertown – Needs and Options

While public transport, walking and cycling are important sustainable means of travel to be given every encouragement, road transport is also a vital mode of travel for the study area, and the population and economic growth planned in the area will result in significant increases in road trips and associated congestion on the network in the absence of capacity improvements. The proposed Silvertown Crossing and improvements at the Dartford Crossings will assist in catering for the more strategic movements in East London, but will not deliver significantly better cross-river connectivity. A new road crossing over the river east of the proposed Silvertown Tunnel is therefore required, and should be principally aimed at facilitating more local needs including freight, buses, walking and cycling, while adding to network resilience. The potential for improvement in local cross river highway travel is therefore related to (1) facilitating local road traffic movements that are essential to the proper functioning of east London today and which are constrained by the lack of current connectivity and (2) facilitating the future economic and population growth in the area which will also have an essential component of cross-river road traffic which needs to be accommodated in an efficient manner. Other imperatives relevant to this consultation exercise are:  the need to make a decision on a replacement for the Woolwich Ferry as the current ferry nears the end of its working life; and  the need to address long-standing concerns regarding potential local traffic impacts in east London, and to consider the overall economic, social and environmental impacts of new road building compared with doing nothing to address these concerns.

Previous consultation TfL have conducted two public consultations on the river crossings programme to date. In the latest consultation in 2012, there was over 70% support for the fixed link (bridge/tunnel) options at Gallions Reach and Silvertown, with 77% for the Silvertown Tunnel. Overall 51% of respondents supported a new ferry at Woolwich and 52% supported a ferry at Gallions Reach. 55% of respondents opposed a toll for the new crossings and for the Blackwall Tunnel and a third supported it. Boroughs, business representative groups and members of the public generally acknowledged the need for new road crossings, although there were mixed views about how to take the matter forward. Some respondents (especially those with a focus on environmental protection) generally opposed any new highway capacity. There were suggestions that TfL should consider alternative crossings and crossing locations, and an indication that the focus on the replacement of the Woolwich Ferry was too narrow in the context of the wider strategic needs of this growing TfL River Crossings East of Silvertown – Needs and Options

part of London.

Study Objectives Taking into account up-to-date planning and transport policy, the identified socio- economic needs of the study area and consultation and stakeholder responses, the following east of Silvertown Tunnel river crossing study objectives have been developed:  Improving cross-river highway connectivity (including the distance between crossings, the availability of the crossings by time and for different users and the resultant accessibility levels)  Improving cross-river highway resilience (including the susceptibility of the crossings for closure, the capacity and reduction of congestion and the number of crossings and the distance between them)  Supporting economic activity and growth (including the ability of residents to access employment and or firms to hire labour and interact with other businesses and to encourage development) Within the scope of these objectives consideration is also required to be given to the wider environmental impacts of crossing options, safety, stakeholder views and specific issues including addressing the needs of Woolwich Ferry users and the assessed potential for development of a positive business case.

Options and sifting A range of schemes and locations have been put forward as options for consideration as part of the River Crossings programme, either identified by TfL or proposed by stakeholders and the public in response to consultation. The options have been examined over the last 2 years in a variety of technical reports and consultations – these have evolved as the programme has evolved over time. A two-stage option sifting process has been used:  First, a long list of potential options was considered in broad categories of options in terms of their potential to address the study objectives and requirements. Categories of options which fail to meet one or more of the objectives and/or are unlikely to pass key viability and acceptability requirements have not been taken forward from this stage.  Secondly, the options remaining within each option category carried forward from the first stage have been considered against their broad costs and benefits and the study’s objectives and requirements. This exercise has resulted in the production of a final short-list of options proposed for further public consultation. TfL River Crossings East of Silvertown – Needs and Options

Outcome of option sifting A number of options were found not to meet the study objectives or requirements and were not taken forward – this includes stand-alone options for walking/cycling, public transport and road user charging. However it was recognised that the needs of these modes need to be considered in any short-listed options. The conclusion from the sifting process was that a road-based crossing was required to fully address the study objectives, and three locations (Woolwich( A on the figure below) Gallions Reach (B) and Belvedere ( C)) were identified where such a crossing should be considered. A number of different crossing types were considered at these locations.

The conclusion of this process was that at these locations, four options best met the study objectives, and are proposed for further consultation. These are:  a replacement vehicle ferry at Woolwich;  a new vehicle ferry at Gallions Reach;  a new road bridge at Gallions Reach; and  a new road bridge at Belvedere.

Nature of the crossing The proposals for a new Silvertown Tunnel crossing would significantly improve the capacity and resilience of the strategic crossing at Blackwall linking the A13 with the A2; and the introduction of free-flow charging at Dartford and potentially TfL River Crossings East of Silvertown – Needs and Options

another road crossing in the lower Thames would address capacity constraints affecting strategic traffic movements around London. Any other crossing would be available for some more strategic movement, and would be important for network resilience and support for economic growth, but would focus on local accessibility – catering mainly for road based trips with an origin and/or destination in one of the five boroughs in the study area. The short-listed options therefore focus on local accessibility in various ways:  for the ferry option, capacity would be relatively low and, as with the current Woolwich Ferry, it is unlikely to operate 24/7  for the bridge options, capacity would be managed by operating a single lane in each direction for general use, with the second lane used for freight and bus vehicles only  In all options there would be appropriate lower capacity connections to the local road network  There would be user charging to manage the traffic use.

The main conclusions relating to the deliverability, costs and benefits of each of the short-listed options are provided in Table 1. Further details of each option and its assessed impacts are provided in Chapter 7, and as described in this chapter, there are various ways in which crossings can be implemented at these locations. A summary of the likely achievement of study objectives and requirements by the 4 short-listed options is given in Chapter 7. It is evident that the bridge options at Gallions Reach are likely to have a higher level of achievement of the study objectives and requirements.

Table 1: Summary of short-listed options

Earliest possible Capital Transport Option completion date Cost1 improvements Other benefits Woolwich TfL could provide a £100m - Modest reductions There would be no significant change Ferry replacement ferry by the £200m in journey times, in access to jobs or other early 2020s but unlikely to be opportunities, and it would not give significant any significant support to growth. However there would be improvements to reliability over the existing ferry and some modest increase in capacity.

1 The capital cost range is due to different ferry or fixed link options. The indicative cost ranges reflect the estimated cost of construction and permanent land purchases, and include an allowance for risk and inflation. The cost of any complementary measures and land required temporarily for construction are not included. TfL River Crossings East of Silvertown – Needs and Options

Earliest possible Capital Transport Option completion date Cost1 improvements Other benefits Gallions The land required to build £150m - Would provide a Would put 20,000 firms and 300,000 Reach Ferry the new terminals and £250m new link between jobs within an average commuting access roads is safeguarded Greenwich and distance (37 mins) of , for a river crossing, and a Bexley and the and help support development of ferry could be in service by rapidly growing housing in nearby areas the early 2020s Royal Docks area Gallions The land required to build a £350m - A fast 24 hour link Would put 100,000 firms and Reach bridge is safeguarded for a £600m would greatly 800,000 jobs within an average Bridge river crossing, and it could improve access commuting distance (37 mins) of be built and operational by between Greenwich Thamesmead, and would support 2022-2025 and Bexley and the development in Thamesmead and rapidly growing Royal Docks area Belvedere No current safeguarding. £500m - A fast 24 hour link Would put 120,000 firms & 190,000 Bridge The bridge is unlikely to be £900m would greatly jobs within an average commuting built before 2025-2030 improve access distance (37 mins) of Belvedere, and between north would support development in Bexley and the Belvedere and Havering London Riverside opportunity areas