Riverside north of the River and east of the Tower. Dartford Crossing

Riverside north of the River and east of the Tower
Dartford Crossings
TQ 57449 76762

Section of riverside taken up with large aggregate and oil terminals and some very large jetties.  The are is however dominated by the high - and very busy - bridge.

Post to the west Purfleet jetties and Littlebrook
Post to the east Stoneness
Post to the south Stone Marshes
Post to the north Thurrock Dartford Tunnel Approach


Dartford Tunnel
The idea of a tunnel below Woolwich was first considered by the Ministry of Transport in 1924 and this was eventually proposed between Dartford and Thurrock. It was thought to be suitable for part of a ring road round London. A pilot tunnel was drilled in the late 1930s but further work was delayed due to the Second World War
New Tunnel. By 1970 the tunnel was carrying over 4 times the original estimate and a second tunnel was announced by the government. This was to be part of what was then the North Orbital Road, now the M25. Work was delayed due to a lack of funds, which was resolved by European funding granted in 1974. The second tunnel opened in 1980, allowing single direction working in each tunnel and connection of the crossing to the M25.
Old Tunnel. Work began in 1959, using a similar construction method to the Blackwall Tunnel but the delay in work due to the war allowed the tunnel's design to be improved with a better ventilation system. Tolls were levied from the start. The two-lane tunnel opened in 1963,
Queen Elizabeth Bridge. There was a concern that the two tunnels would not be able to cope with the full demands of a completed M25. In 1986 proposals were made for improvements and in 1986, a Trafalgar House consortium won a bid to build a new bridge under a private finance initiative. This included transfer of the control of the whole crossing to Dartford River crossing Ltd. Work on the bridge began in 1988.[ It was designed by German engineer Hellmut Homberg, and the two main caissons were constructed in the Netherlands – and designed to withstand a collision with a large ship. The towers are about 200ft high. It was opened by the Queen in 1991when it had the longest cable-stayed span of any bridge in Europe. It is the only bridge across the Thames downstream of the Tower,

Riverside
Lafarge Wharf . This wharf handles Marine Aggregates only, with receiving hoppers and discharge conveyors for self-discharging vessels.
Tunnel Wharf – this was the wharf for the Tunnel Cement works which stood to the north of the railway
Vopak Wharf and Terminal. There are 3 berths on the wharf. The site has 86 steel tanks doe oil storage. There are fully automated road vehicle loading facilities available and loading and discharging facilities for sea. They handle high and low flash petroleum products.


Sources
Dartford Crossing. Wikipedia. Web site
Port of London Authority. Web site
Tarmac-Lafarge. Web site
Vopak. Web site

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