Tunnel Road in Ferrymead, Christchurch

Tunnel Road in Ferrymead and I obviously didn’t actually walk this one. Too dangerous plus I would probably be arrested if I attempted to walk it. Nothing on the library website for this road. It is 5km long and goes through at least three suburbs. I have driven this road frequently. There is a Wikipedia page for the Road Tunnel and this road is mentioned. You can’t really separate the Tunnel Road from the Road Tunnel. Huge number of articles in Papers Past starting in 1920. Many of the articles and letters to the editor were about which was the best option for transport of goods to Christchurch. There were three groups and one wanted a canal and this would have followed Linwood Ave with wharves near Lancaster Park. Then there were the ones who wanted a port to be built in the estuary at McCormacks Bay. Obviously the ones who wanted a tunnel through the hills won this battle. Before 1900 there was a bit of talk about a tunnel from Sumner under Evans Pass but engineers decided against this. One of the arguments against the tunnel was the risk of earthquakes and that the tunnel would be blocked by landslides and that it would be impossible to dig out the trapped people. From 1950s onwards a lot of the articles and letters to the editor talked about traffic would be too busy for Lyttelton. The Road Tunnel was on TV in September 1961 when there was a ceremonial blast at the Heathcote end of the tunnel. This was attended by the Prime Minster Keith Holyoake. The Tunnel Road was constructed at the same time as the Road Tunnel was being constructed. In the 1960s the arguments were about the maintenance of the tunnel and the Tunnel Road. The Road Tunnel Board had to pay for the maintenance as the National Road Board refused to have responsibility for it. This is why there was a toll for driving through the tunnel. I can’t remember when you no longer had to pay tolls. I have just googled and it said that the 20c toll was abolished in 1979. I remember having a bag of coins in my car for the toll. I am also old enough to remember when the toll was a half crown coin.

We used to walk up the hill to the Summit Road and were able to see the Tunnel Road being built. We used to walk up what we called the Old Hikers Track and is now called the Major Hornbrook Track. The hills above Lyttelton were our playground and we thought nothing of roaming the hills even at a young age. The tunnel was opened in 1964 and I would have been 10 years old that year. I can’t remember if I went to opening ceremony and I am fairly sure that we didn’t walk through the tunnel as many people did. We did drive through the tunnel when it was first opened. We possibly didn’t walk through the tunnel as my Mum was probably not well enough to do this.

The Tunnel Road goes from Ferry Road to the Road Tunnel entrance and going by Papers Past there were lots of accidents. There are still accidents happening on this road.