DESPITE no agreement yet being in place over a funding shortfall of around £8 billion, the government-owned National Highways continues to plough ahead with work on the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC).

Today (Tuesday, 14 July) the agency announced it has commissioned building of a huge boring machine that will create a tunnel under the Thames, linking Kent with Thurrock.

The machine will be delivered to site and start work in 2028 and National Highways say the new road is on track to open in the early to mid-2030s.

At 16.4 metres in diameter the boring machine will be the largest ever used in Europe, and the third largest ever in the world.

It will dig two parallel tunnels, each more than twice the size of the existing tunnels at Dartford and big enough for three lanes of 70mph traffic.

Due to the machine's size – 120 metres long and weighing over 5,000 tonnes – it will be delivered to site in segments by sea and carried up the Thames and delivered to the Port of Tilbury.

The 2.6-mile-long tunnel will be the longest road tunnel in the UK, with a tunnel chosen instead of a bridge to avoid impact on local communities and protected important wetland bird habitats.

Crossing Delivery Director Shaun Pidcock said: "We are working at pace and are on track to deliver Britain's greenest road, driving down carbon emissions and protecting the environment as we do so. Choosing our partner to supply the giant tunnel boring machine means real progress on the project – and we'll put it to work as soon as it arrives on site in 2028."

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The machine will be built in Germany by Herrenknecht, who made the machines used to create the Elizabeth Line, the Silvertown Tunnel, HS2 and the Thames Tideway tunnels. It will be bought and operated by the project's Delivery Partner, Bouygues TP Murphy Joint Venture.

The machine will begin tunnelling near the Port of Tilbury in Thurrock in 2028, before being turned around to create the second tunnel. The Lower Thames Crossing was granted a Development Consent Order by the Secretary of State for Transport in March 2025.

The Government allocated the final part of public funding in the November 2025 Budget, which allowed the project to start work and seek the private investment to complete construction and operate the new road.

However, no funding partner has yet been found - and the whole project is now subject to an investigation by the Audit Office.