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English Channel Plagued by Traffic Problems

BY “AWAKE!” CORRESPONDENT IN THE BRITISH ISLES

IN AN early morning mist a line of cars creeps slowly forward along the wide apron leading into the Dover Car Ferry Terminal. They are preparing to cross the Strait of Dover, in the English Channel, by boat to France.

It is pleasant standing on deck to look back at the slowly receding white cliffs of Dover. There are intermittent patches of sea fog, but the sea appears calm and empty. Suddenly a supertanker looms out of a patch of fog hardly big enough to cover it! Obviously ours is not the only ship out here, but, thanks to radar observations, our captain has already taken evasive action.

Hazards of Congestion

Each day an average of 300 ships travel through this 21-mile (34-km)-wide bottleneck at the eastern end of the English Channel. Supertankers, freighters and warships are the heavy traffic, and ferries, fishing vessels and pleasure boats constantly cut across their paths.

Some years ago a British television news company collected radar charts showing one day’s shipping movements in the Strait of Dover. A subsequent movie, made up of the charts in time sequence, showed the flow in less than one minute. The result looked like a swarm of angry bees rushing about in panic with no defined lines of traffic. Admittedly, things have improved since. Southbound tanker traffic now travels on the English side and northbound traffic on the French side. Nevertheless, the hazard still remains as long as there is a ‘go as you please’ central lane and continual cross-Channel traffic.

Serious shipping accidents in the Channel continue to happen, with massive oil spillage and the tragic aftermath of beach and sea-life pollution. Frequent near-misses are often averted only by the skill and vigilance of ships’ officers.

A foretaste of major disaster involving loss of life did happen, however, in February 1979. A cross-Channel ferry collided with a bulk tanker. The casualty list was considered light. But it still lingers in the minds of people who wonder if the next collision will involve perhaps a thousand lives on a crowded ferry.

Admittedly, a relatively safe alternative does exist: the cross-Channel airways. And its safety record is admirable. Not everyone, however, can afford the high fares; and many others would not fly even if their flight were free.

The Tunnel Project

In 1964 the British and French governments, after lengthy negotiations, decided to join forces to build a tunnel. In 1973 Phase One was completed at a cost of £4.85 million ($10.5 million, U.S.). But Phase Two ran into difficulties. In 1974 the Channel Tunnel Bill in the British Parliament lapsed because of a general election, and in the following year the whole project was cancelled.

Nothing further happened until 1978, when British Rail came up with an alternative idea. They proposed to complete the tunnel with private enterprise backing, then to build a single rail line through it to link London-Paris-Brussels. The government liked the idea and accepted it in principle. Money for the scheme would be raised from private financial institutions in Common Market countries.

A Channel Bridge?

Ronald Taylor, an engineer, suggests a 25-mile (40-km) tubular steel bridge to span the sea from Hythe on the Kent coast to Cap-Gris-Nez in France. The bridge would rise 250 feet (76 m) above the sea lanes, leaving ample room for the largest tankers to pass between its 24 spans. It would provide for road, rail and even pedestrian traffic, with refreshment stopovers at intervals.

Doubts, however, still linger in officials’ minds. They ask: Will a tunnel be absolutely free from fire risk that could convert it into a 32-mile (51-km) coffin? Or, if a bridge is chosen, will traffic be entirely safe from the vicious gales that sweep in suddenly from both ends of the Strait of Dover? Will it even be strong enough to withstand a direct blow against one of its supports from a supertanker in a thick fog?

It may be that one day someone will take a calculated risk and go ahead. Until then, great care must still be exercised in the world’s most congested waterway.