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The Queensway Tunnel, the first road link under the Mersey, was opened on 18 July 1934 by King George V after almost nine years of work.

Following the official opening the tunnel was opened for a celebratory walk, which 80,000 people took part in, experiencing the novelty of being under the river bed.

To mark the tunnel's 75th anniversary it's once again being opened to the public to travel through on foot.

The special event on Sunday, 19 July, 2009 will raise money for local charity Claire House.

At Easter 1934 a walk through the tunnel cost 6d, tickets for the 2009 event cost £5 per person or £15 for a family of two adults and two children.

When the tunnel opened in 1934 over 200,000 people gathered in Old Haymarket to watch the opening ceremony.

The royal car led the way through the tunnel to Birkenhead where three miles of crowds waited.

At the time it was constructed it was known as the eighth wonder of the world.

The opening of Queensway Tunnel

It cost £8million and employed 1700 men in difficult working conditions under the river bed.

Construction of the tunnel required the excavation of 1,200,000 tons of rock and gravel and the building of two miles of roadway using 82,000 tons of cast iron and 270,000 tons of concrete.

The tunnel was badly needed, before it was built the only way to cross the Mersey by vehicle was to queue for a special vehicle ferry, which often didn't run because of the weather conditions.

The next crossing after this was a transporter bridge at Widnes or failing that a long drive through Warrington.

The tunnel is split in to two sections with the upper level being used to carry the road traffic.

The lower section known as Central Avenue is directly under the two central lanes of traffic and was originally intended to house a tramway, but this idea never came to fruition as other forms of transport became more popular.

The construction of the tunnel began in 1925 from both sides of the river with the two pilot tunnels meeting in 1928.

The tunnel entrances, toll booths and the exterior of the ventilation buildings were designed by the architect Herbert Rowse.

At either end of the tunnel there were two 60 foot columns made from reinforced concrete and polished granite, only the column at the Birkenhead end remains today.

The space in Central Avenue was rented to British Gas who fitted a large pipe to transport gas across the river.

The pipe is now defunct and recently parts of this area have been used to hold emergency refuges for people in the event of an incident in the road tunnel above.

Water which seeps in to the tunnel collects in the bottom of Central Avenue where it flows to mid river before being pumped out of the tunnel.

Walks on 19 July will be timed at 10.30am, 11.15am, 12noon, 12.45pm and 1.30pm. Tickets are available from any Merseytravel Centre.