A group proposing a £2bn road tunnel linking Sheffield and Manchester has received funding towards a feasibility study.
Trans-Pennine Connect has been given £500,000 by the UK Dynamism Fund towards the first stage of a 22km road tunnel through the Peak District. The group also proposes restoring the Woodhead railway line and tunnel between the two cities.
Government studies have put the cost of a tunnel to replace the A628 Woodhead Pass at between £7.8-11.6bn but Trans-Pennine Connect says it could be built for £2bn by using drill-and-blast rather than a TBM.
“The [government] study assumed a boring machine, because a machine advances faster. Speed is not the same as value. The rock here is hard and strong, comparable to the geology of Norwegian projects where tunnels are being driven by drill and blast right now, and shaping the tunnel to the road rather than to a machine is what brings the cost down,” the group says.
It adds that the savings would cover the cost of the tunnel and the rail restoration.
Trans-Pennine Connect was established by Michael Dnes, a former Department for Transport civil servant who led more than £40bn of national road programmes, including the A66 trans-Pennine upgrade, and Alex Griffiths who has held delivery roles with projects including Sizewell C and HS2.
