The cost of repairing Hammersmith Bridge has surged to £250 million, sparking concerns that the 137-year-old Thames crossing may never reopen to vehicles. The latest estimate, around £100 million higher than previous projections, comes as the fifth anniversary of the bridge's closure on safety grounds approaches in April 2019.
Discussions over funding have reached a stalemate, with a government taskforce last meeting more than two years ago. Sources indicate no breakthrough is imminent, despite ongoing frustration from residents. Local MPs warn that the escalating repair bill makes full reopening "increasingly unlikely." Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney said: "I think it's increasingly possible that it won't reopen to traffic."
The Grade II*-listed iron bridge, which opened in 1887, previously carried about 22,000 vehicles daily and seven bus routes. It was closed by Hammersmith and Fulham Council in April 2019 after sensors detected "dangerous micro-fractures" in the pedestals holding the suspension system. The bridge partially reopened to pedestrians and cyclists in July 2021, but drivers must still divert via Chiswick or Putney bridges.
The Department for Transport (DfT) wants the council and Transport for London (TfL) each to cover a third of the repair bill, with taxpayers funding the remainder. However, Ms Olney argued: "The DfT are the only people that have access to the kind of money that is going to make the difference. No local authority has the means to foot a bill of this size." Labour MP Fleur Anderson added: "These increasing costs make it less likely the work can ever be done."
The council's proposed solution, initially estimated at over £40 million in 2019, had grown to £141 million by 2021. The council plans to consult on a toll of about £3 per crossing for drivers to raise its £83 million share. A temporary "double deck" structure could begin construction in 2026, but the council is still awaiting DfT approval of its business case, submitted last April. The DfT said it remains committed to paying up to a third of the bill, subject to value-for-money considerations.
Conservative London Assembly member Tony Devenish called for the bridge to be renamed "Sadiq Khan Bridge," accusing the mayor of inaction. Ms Olney estimated the bridge might not reopen to vehicles for at least a decade, while Ms Anderson said: "It's several years away from when we get funding — we have not even got the funding."
