Hammersmith Bridge could be saved thanks to new £6 million repair plans
By Jacob Phillips, local democracy reporter
Hammersmith Bridge could be saved within a year thanks to new £6 million repair plans.
It is hoped the new plans will save £24 million after Hammersmith and Fulham Council approved an urgent proposal to stabilise the bridge.
The new plans mean the bridge could be fixed within the year, much sooner than previously expected.
The bridge reopened to pedestrians, cyclists and river traffic on July 17 with a temporary cooling system in place to prevent further damage to the bridge.
But the bridge is not expected to reopen to vehicles for a while.
Now new designs have been developed by specialist engineers, Mott MacDonald, who have helped design large sections of HS2 and Crossrail.
The engineers have been chosen as a replacement from current designers Pell Frischmann after they presented a proposal to engineers and officials from the Department for Transport (DfT), Transport for London (TfL) and Hammersmith and Fulham engineers on August 9.
The works on the bridge are now expected to take 46 weeks and cost a fifth of the price suggested by Pell Frischmann.
The new plan suggests replacing cast iron bearings with rubber ones to spread the pressure of vehicles crossing the 134-year-old cast iron bridge.
The suggestion has been favourably reviewed by Heritage England and is expected to reduce the need for temporary closures.
Engineers believe it will also avoid the need to divert the gas mains on the bridge for the stabilisation work.
The council will fund the £6 million project but expects DfT and TfL to both pay a third of the price as outlined in the Government’s TfL funding announcement of June 1.
Council leader Stephen Cowan said: “We don’t want to lose a single day in delivering the full stabilisation of the bridge to ensure residents on both sides of the river no longer have to deal with closures or the threat of closures.
“Whilst putting the safety of the public first, we believe that the importance of maintaining pace and progress, the real savings achieved by the deployment of the preferred stabilisation works option and the current vulnerability of Hammersmith Bridge demands rapid action.”