News

Driving to France for a little more than a fiver could have been a reality if a huge Channel suspension bridge had been given the go-ahead by the Thatcher government, official records have revealed.

After dismissing the option of a tunnel under the sea as "impractical", civil engineers submitted detailed proposal to construct a three-lane motorway between the two countries.

It was suggested the bridge, with a span of 21 miles and towering 220 feet above the busy sea lanes would carry cars and freight traffic between either Dover or Folkestone and the French coast.

Motorists, it was estimated, would pay a toll charge of £5.60 per person in their vehicle while lorry drivers could be charged £8 to use the route.

Engineers said that private financiers were willing to back the project, attracted by the forecast that tolls could provide a revenue of up to £220 million a year.

The bridge would have been built along the lines of the Severn Bridge that links South Wales and England at an estimated cost of £3 billion, said engineering group LinktoEurope.

LinktoEurope admitted that the huge pylons on which the bridge would rest could make navigation of the Channel difficult for shipping traffic. But they said that the structure would be sufficiently sturdy that, should a boat plough into the struts, traffic above would be unaffected.

The Government file on the proposals has been kept secret until today, when it was released at the National Archives at Kew.