This is a rather dark and miserable one, google maps needs to work on their low light road capturing because the Mersey Tunnel looks like a location from The Road in the image below.
So here's the original, a high point in the book I think.
Another nice and easy one to find. This is now known as the Queensway Tunnel (or Birkenhead Tunnel) as a further tunnel (the Kingsway Tunnel) has now also been constructed.
It opened in 1934 and wikipedia has the following to say about it:
"The tunnel entrances, toll booths and ventilation building exteriors were designed by architect Herbert James Rowse, who is frequently but incorrectly credited with the whole civil engineering project. Their decoration is by Edmund Thompson. These are Grade II listed buildings.
More than 1.2 million tons of rock, gravel, and clay were excavated; some of it used to build Otterspool Promenade. Of the 1,700 men who worked on the tunnel during the nine years of its construction, 17 were killed. At the time of its opening it was the longest road tunnel in the world, a title it held for 14 years until the opening of the Vielha Tunnel in Spain in 1948, though it remained the longest underwater tunnel as of 1955.
The tunnel, which cost a total of £8 million, was opened on 18 July 1934 by King George V; the opening ceremony was watched by 200,000 people."
And this is what it looks like now. As you might imagine, not a huge number of changes, though the lighting seems to have got a lot worse.
What a delightful service station, they certainly don't make them like this any more. Whilst some might find the overtly 60's architecture somewhat unlovely, at least they made an effort.
Wikipedia has the following to say:
"The services is notable for an unusual hexagonal concrete tower on the northbound side, named The Pennine Tower, which originally housed an up-market restaurant
and a sun deck. The tower was designed to resemble an Air Traffic
Control Tower and is a prominent local landmark. The tower closed to the
public in 1989 due to current Fire Regulations (there is no means of
providing an alternative exit from the restaurant deck in an emergency),
and is only used for storage and occasional staff training. The original Otis pentagon-shaped elevators which served the tower are still used to service the ground floor and first floor of the building.
The Tower was listed Grade II on 15 October 2012."
Again, a very easy one to find.
This is what it looks like now, not much has changed, a few more signs and the buildings to the left of the tower seem to have been modified or extended.
And here's a view from the motorway. A fairly majestic sight:
I think that it's aged pretty well, I'm sorry that the high class restaurant and sun deck have closed, I hope that the Moto staff enjoy being trained up there.
