The Lower Thames Crossing project to build the UK’s largest road tunnel has been granted £590m by the government.
The tunnel linking Tilbury in Essex and Gravesend in Kent, will cost an estimated £10bn.
Plans for the 14.5-mile (23km) route were approved in March after a 16-year process that has already cost £1.2bn.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the crossing would aid “smoother, less congested passage of vital goods from Europe to our regions”.
It came as part of a £1bn package, announced by Labour on Monday, to improve transport infrastructure across England. The government said it was looking to source private finance to build the Lower Thames Crossing, branding it a “national priority”.
But the big reveal was ruined after Treasury minister Emma Reynolds had a car-crash interview on LBC with host Nick Ferrari, when she was unable to recall the towns either side of the crossing. To make things worse, she then said the construction would cost ‘several billion pounds’, when the actual cost will be £10bn.
National Highways has estimated the cost will be between £9.2 billion and £10.2 billion, depending on the funding model chosen, although as per many construction projects in the UK, it would not be a surprise if it came in higher than this.
Campaigners have raised concerns about ancient woodland being impacted by the works.
Chris Todd, director of Transport Action Network, previously said the decision was “absolute madness”.
He added “The only way that the government can afford this white elephant would be to take money from all the other nations and regions in the UK.”
