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Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (4th Jul 2011 - 14:12:21) A close friend played sport with a County Councillor who told him that one of the fire safety tests on the tunnel was not resolved because of the late arrival of the Fire Brigade. He said that because of this, the Secretary of State doing the opening ceremony of the tunnel had to be put off. He said it will now have to wait until he has another free date. He also said that these things usually take 3 weeks to rearrange, so he reckoned we could be looking at the 27th. He said, don't blame Balfour Beatty I can't believe this - if it is true, it is a disgrace. If it has to be opened, surely we have enough semi-famous faces in the area?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - David (4th Jul 2011 - 16:39:31) That says it all. Surely it is more important to get the traffic moving than to wait for some "celebrity" to fit us in to his so called "busy diary". I bet if DC invited him to lunch he'd make time!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (4th Jul 2011 - 16:50:32) I can't vouch for it being 100% correct, but the person who played with the fellow certainly believed what he said. I suppose we'll have to wait and see if it opens on Thursday - if it does then the man was exaggerating. I have a nasty feeling that it has got some truth in it. Fingers crossed it's wrong - the nearer it gets to being open, the mor impatient I feel!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Rich (5th Jul 2011 - 08:53:46) Confirmed on the Eagle this morning that it is definitely not opening this week and the target was the end of july now. www.964eagle.co.uk/news/... If that was the reason it is a complete disgrace and farce.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - May (5th Jul 2011 - 17:49:28) I guess as long as it opens before mid August they wil say it opened early still can't wait for it to open

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Janet A (6th Jul 2011 - 17:49:11) Quote from Balfour Beatty: "The 6th seems to have circulated somehow but it's never been confirmed by the Highways Agency! The truth is we are handing the tunnel over to the Highways Agency today and they then make the decision when to open, so the announcement may indeed be soon. We have always committed to opening in July, and we still intend to do this".

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - May (6th Jul 2011 - 19:42:31) Brilliant!!!!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (6th Jul 2011 - 21:45:35) Brilliant? I doubt whether the hundreds of motorists delayed every morning and evening who will be delayed for the next three weeks just because the Minister couldn't fit in a visit a day later than requested will agree. Surely any old dignitary would do? Just because the Sec of State wants to bask in a moment of glory, we all have to wait. It was certainly reported on BBC TV South that the tunnel would open in '3 weeks time' and that was 3 weeks ago last Monday.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Finchie (6th Jul 2011 - 23:53:17) Perhaps I'm being dim, but I still can't understand why the bottleneck won't just move further south to the Liss roundabout. Don't need to be just traffic lights that cause a problem. But "always glass-half full", so really looking forward to it. I suspect on opening day it will be very busy - full of people like myself who just want to drive backwards and forwards. Can't understand why I'm so excited about a big hole in the ground !! Cheers, Mark

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (7th Jul 2011 - 10:20:11) Mark - if you've got so much spare time, why don't you drive backwards and forwards every day until it's open and then let us know the moment they let you through? At 38 mins south and 25 minutes back, that would only be 12 journeys a day for you.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Dawn Hoskins (7th Jul 2011 - 13:21:52) It took me an hour to get from Liphook to Grayshott yesterday!!! No apparent reason either and all the cones are still in place for the entire stretch. They could at least move the cones now all the roadworks have finished surely?!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (7th Jul 2011 - 15:36:59) Dawn, I sypathise! I have to go that way every couple of days and I am so fed up with it, especially after BBC South said it would open earlier this week. I was so patient until this stupid delay - why can\'t they just open it and then have an official come and bless it whenever! On an earlier thread I wrote how a woman following behind me last week was obviously prepared for the 40 minute delay. First she was on her mobile for 20 minutes, then picked up a cereal bowl and proceeded to eat her breakfast - driving in fits and starts, hands free, and then put on all her make-up, including a blemish concealer on her chest. I would have found it funnier if I hadn\'t been afraid she\'d shunt me as my car is elderly and would be written off if I have an accident! Own up, pretty blonde lady, are you from Liphook?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Deadly (7th Jul 2011 - 16:39:03) Was it you Finchie??

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - B (7th Jul 2011 - 17:28:26) I can't beleive somebody was eating a bowl of cereal in the car, where on earth did they put the bowl down and still have space for the george foreman grill?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - James (7th Jul 2011 - 18:01:16) I've got one of those George Formby grills - it plays ukelele music until the chicken turns out nice again!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (7th Jul 2011 - 19:56:33) Not sure it was cereal, but she was spooning from a bowl. Porridge, maybe? Had plenty of time to read her number backwards, she left at the Royal Surrey exit at about 8.50, so probably worked in that area.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Nick Hancock (7th Jul 2011 - 20:06:10) All this reminds me of our holiday in India last year. For our return journey, the spanking new airport terminal had been completed but hadn't been opened because they were waiting to get a bigwig down from Delhi to cut the ribbon. We were consigned to the very neglected old terminal - pretty grim. I thought at the time that we would do things better here. Obviously not!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (7th Jul 2011 - 21:29:07) That says it all! For the icing on the cake, the website I used to check out to see what the delay was currently, so I could decide whether to sit it out or go via Milford, is no longer being kept up. http://hindhead.mouchel.com/bbatm/a3/hindhead.jsp I suppose Balfour Beatty have handed the tunnel over and are no longer bothering to keep the website going. So we have to go as far as the bridge and if the tailback is in sight, turn round and go all the way back through Liphook for the detour. We do vote these people in. Will we never learn?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Diana (8th Jul 2011 - 15:20:02) It won't do you any good to go to the bridge the "tell you how long it it takes to get to Hindhead sign" has gone walk about. Why dont they get John Prescott to open the Tunnel after all he sanctioned it and got things moving not Mr Hunt or Lady Bottomley.?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (8th Jul 2011 - 17:19:49) The only thing one can do from the bridge is look and see if the tailback is visible and whether the traffic is light or heavy. I think the 'time to Hindhead' sign went at the same time the website was closed down - presumably Balfour Beatty are not going to be responsible for it now that it is more or less out of their hands.I really don't see why they don't open it and do the official publicity thing later. It is an absolute pain.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Eneida (8th Jul 2011 - 19:02:01) Why don't they ask Pippa Middleton if she's available to do the honours?? She looks a lot more fun than Philip Hammond, Secretary for Transport...if that's who we have to wait for.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Michael (8th Jul 2011 - 21:00:27) Enieda, Sometimes i dont agree with your comments on this site, but on this i'm right 'behind' Pippa!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (8th Jul 2011 - 22:10:36) I thought someone said it was Sec of State?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Jay (8th Jul 2011 - 22:30:56) Philip Hammond? More fun to have Richard Hammond (or Clarkson or May perhaps?) Anyone fancy nipping over to Dunsfold to see if they're free?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (9th Jul 2011 - 08:42:00) Much as I dislike that overgrown schoolboy in the jeans, at least it would be the only time we\'d hear the roar of traffic in the tunnel, as I believe the speed limit is going to be 50 mph if the \'average speed\' readers are to be believed.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Sudha Rai (9th Jul 2011 - 09:11:06) We have waited a very LONG time for the Tunnel so,I think we should be a little more patient about the Tunnel opening.After all,SAFETY is paramount.Once opened it has to run smoothly and they cannot afford to have any mishaps.From my sources,it seems that the safety measures are not quite 100% yet.We are not really bothered about some celebrity to come and cause more delay,are we?But then,LIPHOOK would surely be in the Press and that is no bad thing?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Phil (9th Jul 2011 - 10:53:41) Well done BB for delivering on-time, am sure their project has been a great success - credit to them. Somehow the rest all smacks of Health & Safety / Hi-Vis vests / clipboards and measuring tapes. Topped with vain MP's muscling in on something that mostly happened whilst they were not about. If the tunnel is ready then open it and ditch the SoS '15 minutes of fame' - better he spent his time wisely helping sort out the phone-hacking debacle ....

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Stephen (10th Jul 2011 - 20:34:56) Saw them testing the signs today. Anybody heard anything else?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - David (10th Jul 2011 - 21:39:35) They have been doing this for days !

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Sarah (10th Jul 2011 - 22:30:10) I've heard from a little bird that they are going to open it quietly one night to avoid congestion from people waiting to be the first to drive through. I believe they have been completing further safety checks this week concerning the possibility of flooding in the tunnel. Unfortunately, I'm non the wiser as to when this surprise opening might be, or when the official opening with an SoS might happen, or indeed if the secret nightime opening is true (though the source is semi-reliable!).

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (11th Jul 2011 - 14:16:22) My friend heard from the mouth of a county councillor that it was definitely due to the fire people not turning up for one of the emergency calls. Because they didn't come within half an hour or whatever the emergency time is, the safety test wasn't passed and it had to be done another day. Therefore they couldn't have it opened on the day promised and we now have to wait for another date in the bigwig's diary.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Phil (11th Jul 2011 - 21:03:36) I wonder if the fire service were late getting to the tunnel fire test because they were stuck in traffic leading to the damn tunnel!! Open the thing!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Dave (11th Jul 2011 - 22:17:49) Has anybody contacted the national press about this? Surely the millions this would cost the economy because of some politician's vanity is a scandal worthy of greater publicity, assuming this is true.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (11th Jul 2011 - 22:24:47) Good one, Phil!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Diana (12th Jul 2011 - 15:09:12) Well put Phill exactly what we were thinking. If the tunnel had been open they would have been there on time. Why not let the head Honcho from Belfor Beaty do it. afterall they did all the work ,not some guy who is not remotely connected with it

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Dave (12th Jul 2011 - 18:49:37) I suspect that they will quietly open it one night over the next few weeks to avoid any huge fuss and then have an official ceremony a few weeks later. There has to be a logical reason why it's being kept so hush hush and this is probably it. There'll be chaos if a date is specified and we all turn up at the same time to be one if the first to go through it.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - shinyshow (12th Jul 2011 - 20:13:42) I received this reply from Highways Agency yesterday: "In answer to your question, some four and a half years ago we committed to opening the Hindhead tunnel in July 2011. We are still on track to do this and final testing of the tunnel systems is taking place. We had hoped for an opening in early July, but the safety of tunnel users is our number one priority and, although the emergency exercise was a success, we believe the opening will be towards the end of July. Official announcement regarding the exact tunnel opening date will be made in the next couple of weeks."

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (12th Jul 2011 - 21:47:55) Well, it stands to reason, they aren\'t going to say it\'s because some bigwig wants to get his moment of glory, are they!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Dawn Hoskins (13th Jul 2011 - 11:23:29) Concrete blocks being removed this morning...... Any one know any thing yet? I just checked the A3 tunnel blog and there is nothing on there (except a brilliant new photo that someone took from a plane). a3tunnel.blogspot.com This must be the best kept secret in town!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W. (13th Jul 2011 - 20:48:30) Whatever they say now, this is what they said in March: Published on Wednesday 30 March 2011 13:06 MOTORISTS are due to start driving through the 1.1 mile Hindhead Tunnel at the start of July. The man in charge of the £371 million construction work, Highways Agency senior project manager Paul Arnold, confirmed contractors were ahead of schedule for completing the job.

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (14th Jul 2011 - 22:40:51) Are they softening us up for an August opening? Anyone know if the Minister is taking his kids on holiday in July? >>A spokesman for the Highways Agency, the transport authority dealing with the logistical side of the project, said that a July opening date was still forecast, despite the original deadline of August. He added that details for the opening ceremony were in the last stages of planning.<<

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Tony Aitch (16th Jul 2011 - 11:48:42) Who knows, perhaps they are looking for some bad news to bury before deciding on the opening date!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (16th Jul 2011 - 18:20:43) Hadn't thought of that - you cynic, you!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Mary W (18th Jul 2011 - 21:33:03) A little bird said the 27th - anyone any news yet?

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Russell (19th Jul 2011 - 14:59:11) Posted today at: www.grayshott.com/... "The tunnel will be opened on Wednesday 27th. July in the SOUTHBOUND direction only, following the opening ceremony which will be from 9am to noon, approximately. Northbound traffic will use the current routing until the opening of the northbound bore. The Police will organise a rolling convoy system when the bollards are removed. The NORTHBOUND bore will be opened on Friday 29th. July, in time for the evening rush hour approximately. The Parish Council and I will be posting updates on grayshott.com over the next week or so, about future closures to the Headley Road. We have mentioned these closures in the past, which are connected with the new roundabout to be built in August at the junction of the Headley Road with the old A3, near the petrol station. Ferris."

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - B (19th Jul 2011 - 18:48:02) www.bbc.co.uk/... Confirmed by the BBC

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Phil (22nd Jul 2011 - 15:09:33) A 3-hour opening ceremony while I am still sitting in traffic?! How thick is the ribbon that has to be cut - must be enormous!! Get on with it!

Re: Late Tunnel Opening - can this be true? - Sudha Rai (24th Jul 2011 - 08:48:52) The Tunnel is opening on the 27th SOUTHBOUND only ...do you think the traffic going down the A3 to Liphook,Petersfield and Portsmouth will form ques at the Thursley end rather than the Liphook end of the Tunnel? Once through the Tunnel, hopefully they will not drive past Liphook too fast. Wish we could do something to organise an attraction for the passing travellers into Liphook. Anyone any ideas?

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