Editing Queensway Tunnel (section)

===Planning and construction===
The first tunnel under the [[River Mersey]] was for the [[Mersey Railway]] in 1886. The first tunnel crossing was proposed in 1825, and again in 1827. A report in 1830 rejected the road tunnel due to concerns about building damage.

During the 1920s there were concerns about the long queues of cars and lorries at the [[Mersey Ferry]] terminal, so once [[royal assent]] to a parliamentary bill was received, construction of the first Mersey road tunnel started in 1925, to a design by consulting engineer Sir [[Basil Mott]]. Mott supervised the construction in association with [[John Alexander Brodie|John Brodie]], who, as City Engineer of Liverpool, had co-ordinated the feasibility studies made by consultant Engineers Mott, Hay and Anderson. The [[General contractor|main contractor]] was [[Edmund Nuttall Limited|Edmund Nuttall]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/obituaries/2007/08/09/sir-nicholas-nuttall-64375-19597612/|title=Sir Nicholas Nuttall|work=Liverpool Daily Post|date=9 August 2007|first=Peter|last=Elson|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123014743/http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/obituaries/2007/08/09/sir-nicholas-nuttall-64375-19597612/|archive-date=23 November 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1928 the two pilot tunnels met to within less than {{convert|25|mm|1}}. Construction work continued, and in 1930 Brian Colquhoun was appointed Resident Engineer.<ref name=BC>{{cite web |url = https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1497 |title = The Papers of Brian Colquhoun |author= |year= |publisher = University of Cambridge |location= |page= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date = 8 November 2023 |quote= }}</ref> From 1933 to 1936 Colquhoun was redesignated ''Resident Engineer-in-Charge''.<ref name=BC/>

More than 1.2&nbsp;million tons of rock, gravel, and clay were excavated; some of it was used to build [[Otterspool Promenade]]. Of the 1,700&nbsp;men who worked on the tunnel during the nine years of its construction, 17 were killed.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/17-deaths-250-tonnes-explosive-13696923 |publisher=Liverpool Echo |title=17 deaths and 250 tonnes of explosive: The real story behind Merseyside's tunnels |author=Lorna Hughes |date=6 October 2017 |access-date=4 May 2025}}</ref>