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Six years to the month since its fateful closure, we could still be ten years out from Hammersmith Bridge being rebuilt – and plans could involve not using it at all, according to the minutes of the most recent Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce summit.
The 138-year-old Victorian suspension bridge is one of the oldest survivors of its kind in the world. But should it survive as a bridge? Or could it be preserved as an inaccessible ‘monument’ instead – a reminder of when cars, cyclists and pedestrians traversed the crossing from Hammersmith to Barnes in harmony? That’s what officials from the Department for Transport, council representatives, MPs on either side of the bridge, Transport for London, and deputy mayor for transport, Seb Dance, met to discuss at the first taskforce meeting in more than three years, which took place in January 2025.
What are the options for Hammersmith Bridge?
Six potential plans were on the table:
- The ‘Foster-Cowi’ plan, AKA ‘option zero’: reopening the bridge for all users
- Bridge closed, but left up as a ‘monument’ (ruled out on cost grounds)
- Bridge repaired, but only pedestrians, bikes, and two single-decker bus routes allowed
- Bridge repaired, but only pedestrians and bikes allowed
- Blow up the old bridge and build a brand new bridge with a 44-tonne weight limit (ruled out on cost grounds)
- A replacement bridge, with the original structure remaining in place (ruled out on cost grounds)
Destroying the bridge was mooted, and might have been tricky given it’s a Grade II-listed structure and therefore protected by Historic England.
Taskforce members acknowledged that banning cars permanently from the bridge would be an economical and environmentally friendly option.
The Foster-Cowi plan, named after the architects who proposed it, was also popular, and would involve building a temporary, double-decker structure through the existing bridge to allow the bridge to be repaired while vehicles drive through it. It’s different to the ‘ribbon bridge’ idea which Hammersmith and Fulham Council scorned earlier this year.
What's been going on so far?
In case you’ve been living under a rock, or maybe just don’t keep up with bridge news, here’s what’s gone down:
Hammersmith Bridge was fully closed in April 2019 when cracks were spotted in the structure’s pedestals. It reopened to pedestrians and dismounted cyclists in 2021, temporary cycle lanes were put in last year, and a new permanent £2.9 million cycle lane was approved last April but is still under construction. However, bridge repairs have been on hold since December 2023 when a boat carrying West Ham fans to a match at Fulham smashed into the gantry used to give repair workers access to the bridge’s underside. Oops. And the road is currently closed to be redecked anyway, though it’s slightly unclear who that currently benefits.
Then there’s the huge cost (around £250 million) of repairing the bridge, which is constantly being batted between councils, Transport for London, and the DfT. At one point, a £3 toll was proposed, but that’s never come into play and wouldn’t do much to dent the bill.
When will it be repaired?
Local MP Fleur Anderson isn’t hugely optimistic about the project’s timeline, and stated back in January: ‘I think 2035 is probably a realistic estimation. I wouldn’t go beyond that - I wouldn’t say it’s at least 2035. But it’s not going to happen within the next two or three years, for sure.’
A DfT spokesperson said: ‘The Government faces a difficult situation with Hammersmith Bridge, where decisions about its future have been ducked for many years.’
TLDR: the bridge is expensive and tricky and no one wants to be responsible. And we’re not really much closer to a solution, it seems.
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