Following the success of the Blackwall Tunnel, opened in 1897, the London County Council (LCC) decided to construct another toll-free road crossing of the River Thames located in the heart of the then flourishing London Docks, midway between Tower Bridge and the Blackwall Tunnel.

Designed by Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice, the engineer for LCC, it copied closely the Blackwall Tunnel; however it is of larger diameter.

No construction workers were killed owing to the extensive safety precautions undertaken; a rarity at that time for a project of this size and complexity.

They are both single storey circular redbrick buildings with ornate ironwork grilles in the large side openings and granite dressings.

Each contain an iron spiral staircases that were originally pedestrian access points but were closed in the 1970s due to low usage and security concerns.

The original redbrick circular building was demolished in 1967 to allow widening of The Highway to four lanes which now extends over half the shaft.

The tunnel is entered via a sloping brick-lined cutting at each end leading to the entrance portal.

The tunnelled section is between shafts 1 and 4, measures 3,689 feet (1,124 m) long and is lined with cast iron segments.

This allowed the sections between the shafts to be straight, thus reducing the complexity of construction and avoiding the foundations of the docks.

An urban myth is that the bends were installed to prevent horses from seeing daylight at the end of the tunnel too early, which might make them bolt for the exit.

The sharp bends and narrow lanes do however make the tunnel unsuitable for large vehicles.

A 3 ft (0.9 m) band of brown tiles at the centre point of the tunnel demarcated the boundary.

After repeated failures of the tiling in the southern half, these were removed in 2011 and replaced with a sprayed gunite surface, detracting significantly the look and feel of the tunnel.

The original ventilation system consisted of two fans supplying fresh air in each of shafts 1 and 4 to a duct below the roadway which in turn feed via 28 grilles spaced evenly along the road into the tunnel.

Alternative crossings include Tower Bridge to the west or the Greenwich foot tunnel to the east.

Route 82 ran between Stepney East Station (now Limehouse) and St. Marychurch Street in Rotherhithe, before being withdrawn in 1968.

The tunnel remained unserved until route P14 commenced in 1988 from Surrey Quays and the Isle of Dogs.