An Act of Parliament was obtained on 12 July 1805 which enabled the Thames Archway Company to start construction.
The driftway was supposed to drain the surrounding bedrock and then be enlarged into a full, brick-arched tunnel which would accommodate two-way vehicular traffic.
[2] In 1807 the directors of the company brought in Richard Trevithick who agreed to take the driftway across the river for a success fee of £1,000.
Employing Cornish miners to dig and a 30-horsepower steam engine to pump, he eventually succeeded in making the driftway 313 metres (1,027 ft) from the Rotherhithe shaft: he had tunnelled under the Thames, albeit only beyond the low-water mark.
However, it remained to complete the excavation under the high-water mark, and this Trevithick was unable to do, owing to breakthroughs of quicksand.