The River Tyne is one of the best salmon rivers in England. Fishing for salmon and sea trout is worth millions of pounds to the North East economy every year.

The river is a tremendous environmental success story and TWPTA is very conscious of its duty to ensure that the impact of construction works in the river cause as little disturbance to marine life as possible.

The TWPTA has already contributed £100,000 to the Environment Agency to upgrade the fish pass upstream at Riding Mill. This will help the Agency monitor the health and numbers of fish in the river. It will also act as an early warning system to detect any adverse effects on marine life of construction in the river.

The setting up of the Tyne Rivers Trust – a voluntary body committed to improving the river and its environs – has also been supported by TWPTA.
 
The TWPTA has also committed to undertaking construction in the river between November and March when fish levels are at their lowest.

Close working relationships have been established with the Port of Tyne Authority which is responsible for navigation in the river.

There will be some disruption to shipping during work on the placement of the immersed tube sections in the River Tyne.

Further information will be available at a later date. 

Navigation, Draught and Dredging

Strict controls are in place to ensure that high standards of navigation, dredging, berthing and anchoring can be maintained for safety and operational reasons. The design of the immersed tube units has required careful consideration of these constraints.

Dredging of the trench in the river bed is expected to take up to four months, and this would cause a minor obstruction to river traffic. The laying of each unit is expected to take approximately one day, and this would necessitate the closure of the river to all shipping.

To minimise disruption, unit laying would not occur on consecutive days. After the units have been put into position in the trench, a further three months' work would be required in the river occasioning further, minor, obstructions to traffic. Once the tunnel is operational, there would be no effect on navigation.

The depth of the new tunnel below the river bed would be sufficient to allow dredging to a level of -11.6 metres CD, which has been agreed with the Port of Tyne Authority.