The Tyne Vehicular Tunnel was developed under the direction of the Tyne Tunnels Joint Committee, made up of representatives from both Durham and Northumberland County Councils.  It was constructed between 1961 and 1967 and opened to traffic by HM the Queen in October 1967.

The Vehicle Tunnel’s purpose was to provide a crossing of the River Tyne on the now A19 strategic corridor which directly serves Tyneside, Wearside and the Tees Valley.
  
The Tunnels have been managed jointly by Northumberland and Durham County Councils, the Pedestrian Tunnels from 1951 to 1967, and the Vehicle and Pedestrian Tunnels from 1967 to 1974.
 
After Local Government restructuring in 1974 the Tyne & Wear Metropolitan County Council were made responsible for the Tunnels, until 1986 when the Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Authority (P.T.A.) took over the responsibility under the management of the Lead Authority Newcastle City Council.

A further Vehicle Tunnel had always been an aspiration and by the 1990s growing traffic numbers made the concept increasingly compelling. From 1996 the PTA pursued this option under a Private Public Partnership, and in November 2005 a tender process was undertaken to identify a potential Concessionaire for the provision of the second Vehicle Tunnel, as part of the New Tyne Crossing Project (NTC). In April 2007 a consortium comprising Bouygues Travaux Publics (Bouygues TP), HSBC Infrastructure Fund Management Limited (acting in its capacity as general partner for and on behalf of each of the limited partnerships constituting HSBC Infrastructure Fund II), and Bank of Scotland Corporate (part of the HBOS group) was appointed as Preferred Bidder to take forward the NTC. The successful consortium set up a new, UK-based Concession Company called TT2 Ltd (Tyne Tunnels 2) on 1st October 2007. TT2 was officially appointed as Concessionaire for the NTC in November 2007. On 1st February 2008 the existing Tunnels, its service delivery and its entire workforce were transferred to TT2. TT2 has contracted Bouygues TP to design and build the new Vehicle Tunnel, to upgrade the existing Vehicle Tunnel, and to improve access to both the Pedestrian & Cyclist Tunnels with a strengthened emphasis on Public Transport links. TT2 will operate and maintain the 4 Tunnels site for a period of 30 years



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