THE A12 Blackwall Tunnel is being closed to southbound traffic for five weekends this year in addition to the weekday night-time closures already under way. Another five weekend closures are planned in 2011 and 2012

By Mike Brooke

THE A12 Blackwall Tunnel is being closed to southbound traffic for five weekends this year in addition to the weekday night-time closures already under way.

Another five weekend closures are planned in 2011 and 2012.

That means drivers heading south having to find other routes across the Thames during the closures, such as the A101 Rotherhithe Tunnel or A100 Tower Bridge to the west.

Transport bosses are holding public meetings tomorrow and Saturday to explain why they’re doing it.

The diversions are to allow contractors to take over the ageing northbound tunnel for massive refurbishment such as upgrading ventilation shafts which Transport for London says can’t be done during the weekday night-time closures.

Northbound traffic will use the southbound tunnel while work is being carried out, between 9pm on Fridays to 5am Mondays, on June 4-7, July 9-12 and 16-19, September 10-13 and October 1-4.

Work on refurbishing the original two-lane Blackwall Tunnel (now northbound), first opened in 1897, will be completed by the end of 2012.

The first public meeting TfL is holding is at 6pm tomorrow (Friday) at the East Wintergarden in Bank Street, Canary Wharf. The second is Saturday 12 noon at the O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula.