During the 1920s there were concerns about the long queues of cars and lorries at the Mersey Ferry terminal, so once royal assent to a parliamentary bill was received, construction of the first Mersey road tunnel started in 1925, to a design by consulting engineer Sir Basil Mott.

It also caused a flicker effect on vehicle windscreens, which could induce epileptic reactions in susceptible people.

[citation needed] In April 2004 construction began on seven emergency refuges below the road deck, each capable of holding 180 people, as part of a £9 million project to bring the tunnel into line with the highest European safety standards.

The refuges have fire resistant doors, ramps for wheelchair access, a supply of bottled water, a toilet, and a video link to the Mersey Tunnels Police control room.

[5] The tunnel entrances, toll booths and ventilation building exteriors were designed by architect Herbert James Rowse, who is frequently but incorrectly credited with the whole civil engineering project.

This is in contrast to the Kingsway Tunnel, where lanes in toll concourse are alternated to prioritise higher traffic in one direction during peak hours.

This branch mainly served Birkenhead docks and for people travelling to the Wirral resort of New Brighton.

It emerges opposite the Liver Building, next to the Atlantic Tower Hotel and Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas.

Although residents were originally told tolls would be removed when debts were repaid, this position was dropped long ago.

The County of Merseyside Act 1980 (c. x) enshrined in law the right to continue collecting tolls once the debts were repaid.

The later Mersey Tunnels Act 2004 (c. ii) created a legal position where tolls charged must rise in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) as published in November.

However, in an incident in the Liberty Tunnel in Pittsburgh in May 1924, inadequate ventilation led to a number of drivers being overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning, though there were no fatalities; this led the Queensway engineers to re-examine the issue and to conduct experiments in a completed section under Hamilton Square.

All the ventilation buildings were designed by Herbert Rowse, chief architect for the Queensway tunnel exteriors, and all are Grade II listed.

The Dubliners popularised the song "I Wish I Was Back in Liverpool", which includes a verse about the building of the Queensway Tunnel.