On 09/10/2012 17:27, tim..... wrote:

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 12:29:37 on Tue, 9 Oct
2012, Clive Page remarked:
They were paid for jointly by Essex and Kent County Councils (you probably
don't remember the good old days when County Councils did useful things
like that).

But it was explicitly promised at the time that when they tolls paid for
the cost of construction (and interest etc.) the tunnels would become free
of charge. I expect all those making the promises are now dead,
unfortunately.

In general I am also cynical, but in this case I don't think the County
Council project ever had a hope of breaking even, and had to be bailed out.
In which case, the original promise has little relevance.

why would a county council scheme have significantly more chance of failing
than a commercial one?

It's the M25 which has made the Dartford Tunnel into big business.

Thirty and forty years ago it carried far less traffic.