Drivers terrified by image of major road tunnel that appears …

Drivers[1] have been left terrified after seeing a photo of a major road tunnel that seems to be swamped by water.

An aerial photo showing the A55 Conwy Tunnel's proximity to the Convy estuary was shared on social media by Wirral photographer Phil Corley - but after seeing it, some people believed it had been Photoshopped and claimed it was "fake". Some motorists who pass through the tunnel in North Wales[2] regularly and had never seen what it looks like from above were surprised after seeing the photo.

A man said: "That's an incredible photo. Puts me off going through it!" A woman said: "Next time I drive through it, I will be much more aware of what is above my head and maybe put my foot down a bit..."

Ordinary-looking brick wall hides an incredible secret - and what lies underground[3] The £102m Conwy Tunnel was the UK's largest road project at the time of its construction The £102m Conwy Tunnel was the UK's largest road project at the time of its construction ( Daily Post Wales)

At the time of its construction, in the late 1980s, the £102m Conwy Tunnel was the UK's largest road project, reports North Wales Live[4]. It took five years to build and involved 1,000 workers, including a team of 90 divers working 24-hour shifts in almost zero visibility.

Some people had favoured a bridge over the narrows of Deganwy – anything to end the long traffic jams for residents and holidaymakers who had to queue under the arches of historic Conwy, one of Britain’s most notorious bottlenecks. However, the tunnel got the nod as it would not disrupt views of Conwy Castle, Thomas Telford’s bridge and Stephenson’s box railway tunnel bridge.

Phil used his Dji Mini 2 drone to capture Conwy Tunnel from above. He flew from the Conwy Estuary Trail on the Llandudno Junction side of the tunnel, merging five frames to create a vertical panorama. His aim was to peer across the estuary to Conwy Marina near where the tunnel emerges, then over to Anglesey in the far distance. On the horizon, Puffin Island and Penmon can just about be spotted.

“I’ve wanted to shoot this scene for ages,” said Phil. “I’d spotted a great drone image of another tunnel in Norway, I think it was, so I checked Google[5] Maps to see what Conwy Tunnel looked like (from above).”

Still, not everyone was convinced. In the resulting image, the tunnel almost appeared to be emerging onto a small island, guarded from the estuary only by the narrowest of margins. “Is this really real?” wondered one woman. “Thought it was fake because it looked too nice,” said a man. Regular A55 travellers were just as incredulous. “I don’t remember going under any tunnel that long, and we go to Anglesey regularly. Got to be Photoshopped? Surely?” said a Cheshire woman.

I'm a H&M addict and these are the partywear items I hope are in the Black Friday sale[6]

Another visitor from across the border was just as adamant. “Gives the impression that it is a huge long thing that goes under water. Photoshop,” he insisted. “I have driven that route hundreds of times and never once realised it went under the estuary.”

Similar geographical failings were revealed by a woman driver. “Been through it many a time but never realised it went under the sea!” she admitted.

A Glan Conwy resident was quick to confirm the photograph’s authenticity to the doubters. “I certainly hope you are wrong, otherwise I have been in a parallel universe for the past 28 years,” he said. “I worked on all three tunnels, Penmaenbach, Conwy and Pen-Y-Clip. Can assure you that Conwy (Tunnel) does go under the river and it was opened by the late Queen Elizabeth.”

The Queen visited in October 1991 to mark the completion of one of the most audacious engineering projects of the period. The east and west tunnel entrances were constructed on site before being buried. The central, immersed section under the estuary, consisted of six steel-reinforced concrete tubes that were cast in an excavated lagoon that was subsequently to become Conwy Marina.

Each tube weighed 30,000 tonnes. They were floated out on barges and sunk in a pre-excavated trench before being backfilled and topped with protective rock armour. When water was pumped out, the result was a tunnel running to 1,089 metres and containing 300,000 tonnes of concrete and 10,500 tonnes of steel. It remains the longest road tunnel in Wales.

Seeing an aerial photo of the tunnel, appearing to be heading out to sea, some motorists worried about rainwater ingress and sea level rises. The engineers had thought about rainwater: it’s collected at the tunnel approaches and pumped uphill into the River Conwy.

As for rising sea levels, this was an undeveloped concept in the mid-1980s. Climate Central data suggests flooding is imminent but its maps are flawed: protective bunds mean drivers will continue using the tunnel for many decades before this ever becomes a consideration.

References

  1. ^ Drivers (www.mirror.co.uk)
  2. ^ North Wales (www.mirror.co.uk)
  3. ^ Ordinary-looking brick wall hides an incredible secret - and what lies underground (www.mirror.co.uk)
  4. ^ North Wales Live (www.dailypost.co.uk)
  5. ^ Google (www.mirror.co.uk)
  6. ^ I'm a H&M addict and these are the partywear items I hope are in the Black Friday sale (www.mirror.co.uk)

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