Moving house- Commuting southbound on Blackwall Tunnel - am I crazy?!

[Woods1]

Hello! I currently live in SE London and work in Abbeywood. My family are in North London. We are looking to buy a house and I’m quite keen to be nearer to my family ( ie North of the river) while still keeping my current job. I need to drive to work which means I’d have to drive through the dreaded blackwall tunnel every day! Am I crazy to contemplate this?! Thinking of moving to Wanstead so would be near the A12 which leads (eventually) to the tunnel. Has anyone got any experience of a blackwall southbound commute? How long does the journey take? I’ve been looking at google maps and it doesn’t look too bad (40mins) but I realise this is during lockdown! Any tips/experience gratefully received!

Not done it myself but had a colleague stop working in East London a few years ago, one of the main reasons was the daily commute via the Blackwell Tunnel! But she didn’t really enjoy driving generally so may be a skewed view.
I live East and have family in SE London, I usually take the rotherhithe tunnel and avoid Blackwall at all costs as the traffic always seems bad

I used to live and work very close to the southern entrance to the Blackwall Tunnel. I would say northbound in the morning is far, far worse than southbound, but sometimes issues do block both ways due to junctions at either end getting blocked by queues.

If the Blackwall Tunnel is bad then the whole of Greenwich is also bad, meaning it's not easy to just head to Rotherhithe to take an alternate route. And, of course, the Woolwich Ferry has its issues sometimes too.

It's just not something I would do, OP. Get a job north of the river or don't move just yet!

I used to regularly do the A12 run from East Ham to Kent a decade ago. It was fairly predictable and actually an easy run. Only a couple of times were there big accidents and they were further down than you'd need for Abbey Wood.

It will be OK most days but on the days that it is not because the tunnel is closed you will be a bit screwed. I would look into the practicalities of using the Woolwich Ferry as a back-up. Rotherhithe Tunnel won't be a practical option as if Blackwall is backed up then your entire route from Rotherhithe across Deptford and Greenwich will be snarled up too.

Thanks very much everyone for your thoughts and advice!

just remember the journey back is slow and the A12 crawls along...i avoid visiting anyone in wanstead or redbridge after 4pm ..usually clear again later around 7pm ish.

I wouldn't do it. But do keep in mind that the silvertown tunnel may improve your commute somewhat.